Dealing with rising costs reflected in Annual Plan discussion
During three days of Annual Plan hearings and deliberations, the Council, having reached a proposed average rates increase of just above 18% which was less than originally forecast, but still much higher than anyone anticipated only a few years ago, came out of the process with the collective belief that dealing with rising costs was an issue for today, rather than putting it off until tomorrow.
For the Central Otago District Council (CODC) Annual Plan 2024-25, the community was asked to help identify priorities so that they could be reflected in the 2025-34 Long-term Plan.
The feedback, which was presented to the four community boards, culminating in the Council's Annual Plan last Thursday (6 June), ranged from submitters wanting the Council to pull back spending on projects and focus on delivery of core services, to proceeding with the current projects.
In the discussion afterwards, it was agreed that the rates increase that had started at an average of 44% and was now the proposed 18.26%, was still not the outcome anyone wanted. There had been a suggestion during the deliberations that the increase could be staggered over a number of years. However, Mayor Tim Cadogan said that would be “just kicking the can down the road”.
“We’re now down the road and the can has caught up with us because of unprecedented change, higher legislative compliance and increasing basic costs that are happening globally. The responsible thing for this Council to do today is to do deal with these matters today, rather than leaving it to future generations to inherit these burdens.”
It was also acknowledged by CODC Chief Executive Peter Kelly that the conversation about what services Council could look to change, or cease was a much bigger conversation to be had with the community during the Long-term Plan discussion over the next 12 months.
Deputy Mayor Cr Neil Gillespie commented on the fact several submitters wanted the Council to pause on what was seen as non-essential spending such as the Alexandra Riverpark and the Cromwell Memorial Hall projects.
“Stopping these projects is not going to make a huge difference to the 2024/25 rates due to the way they are funded as capital projects. What we do know full well, is any delay in a capital project will only see the overall project cost escalate over time. It is the costs of things such as insurance and depreciation that are having a far bigger impact on this year’s rates.”
Some submitters had been concerned that Council had lacked transparency by suggesting communications has focused on the average, whereas for urban areas with water and waste services, the increases were between 27-33%. Mayor Tim explained that communicating how rates are adjusted for everyone is never easy. He felt Council had been transparent by providing a rates calculator that enabled people to review their current and proposed future rates.
Following the Annual Plan hearings and deliberations of 4-6 June, the Council agreed to a set of recommendations to be presented for adoption at the 26 June Council meeting.
The Council received 150 submissions, which were divided into activity comments for staff to comment on and for Council to deliberate on; 50 submitters were opposed to the proposed rates rise, with strong concerns from the community, both in written and oral submissions, about the affordability of the rates increase.
The Teviot Valley and Cromwell community boards met on Tuesday 4 June and the Vincent and Maniototo community boards on Wednesday 5 June with their recommendations, which were taken to the Council Annual Plan hearings and deliberations meeting (Thursday 6 June).
Teviot Valley Community Board
The Council agreed to the grants budget for the Teviot Valley to remain at $5200 for the 2024/25 Annual Plan, and that any extra requests will be allocated from the reserves fund, as required.
It also agreed that the playground upgrade be removed from the 2024/25 Annual Plan and reviewed as part of the 2025-34 Long-term Plan.
Cromwell Community Board
The Council agreed to increase the grant for Cromwell Museum to a total of $41,600, and that the
Nevis Cemetery had the same plot purchase prices as the rest of the district but interments of either ashes or bodies should be listed as per actual costs.
Vincent Community Board
The Council agreed that staff investigate the ownership of the area between the Businessman’s Track (the walkway between the boat ramp on Dunorling Street and Boundary Road/the Pines) and work with the submitter to progress this project and report back to the community board.
The Council agreed that the storage fee for the Clyde Camp would be increased to $400 plus GST for the 2024/25 Annual Plan.
Maniototo Community Board
The Council agreed to investigate installing lights on the Ranfurly railway station as part of the 2025/34 Long-term Plan.
In addition, the Council agreed to:
Consider the submissions and adopt the staff comments as amended.
Note that building consent fees will remain at the 2023/24 level without a proposed 10% increase.
Review the grants policy, specifically for the Alexandra Blossom Festival, to be considered as a line item as part of the Long-term Plan 2025/34.
The full report and a summary of the submissions can be found at: Agenda of Council meeting - Thursday, 6 June 2024 (infocouncil.biz)
Recordings of the hearings and deliberations can be found on our Meeting Recordings: Meeting Recordings - Central Otago District Council (codc.govt.nz) .
The Annual Plan will officially be signed off by Council on 26 June 2024.
