Bad luck comes in three

21 Dec 2023 • By Mary Anne Gill

Stop Press – 3pm 21 December

Extension granted

An extension of up to one month will be added to Waipā District Council’s Long Term Plan programme after official notification from the Government Three Waters legislation will be repealed.

Susan O’Regan

Mayor Susan O’Regan received a letter from newly installed Local Government Minister Simeon Brown last week giving official notice of its intention, and giving options to help local authorities complete their 2024-34 long term plans next year.

They included extending the statutory deadline for the plan to be adopted by three months from the end of June to 30 September and giving councils permission not to have their consultation documents audited before having conversations with their communities.

An emergency council meeting was held today to consider timing options for its 10-year budget, given three waters were now required to be included for the entire life of the plan.

The council announced last week that it was proposing an average 14.8 per cent increase in the 2024/25 year.

Of the 10-year budget, three waters costs and expected revenue had only been included in the first two financial years as required by the legislation at the time.

The council resolved to progress the preparation of its plan with an intended adoption date of no later than 31 July, and to have a fallback position of having the consultation document peer reviewed if for any reason the usual audit option could not be achieved.

“We really are in a tough spot,” O’Regan said. “In some respects, we are back to the drawing board. We need to make sure that our 10-year budgets are given the due diligence they need but we also must make sure that we are having the right conversations with our community,” she said.

The council will come back together at the end of January to review and confirm updated budgets for community consultation. – Media Release, Waipā District Council.

Earlier story

Through the years: how the rate increases will look over the next 10 years. Click on the graphic to see the powerpoint presentation from the workshop.

Waipā ratepayers could do it tough over the next three years with rate increases of 14.8, 9.1 and 10.9 per cent proposed.

Ken Morris

But the cumulative 38.9 per cent rise could have been worse, council deputy chief executive Ken Morris told a council workshop last week.

The first cut of the 10-year Long Term Plan showed an increase in the first year of 34 per cent, he told councillors, but staff were able to pare that back in the weeks leading up to the public workshop.

“We’ve done four significant iterations of the 10-year budgets,” he said.

Clare St Pierre

Ratepayers will be consulted on the plans from February and asked to comment on timing for the major capital projects already underway.

Inflation, interest rates, cost of compliance and recycling blowouts impact all local government as well as Waipā, said Morris.

On top of that capital heavy projects such as the Cambridge Wastewater Treatment Plant, Te Ara Wai Museum, Cambridge Town Hall, and a new Cambridge Library/Heritage Hub are planned over the next decade.

The council plan is to spend more on infrastructure than debt, Morris said and all of it was happening in the early years of the Long Term Plan.

Roger Gordon

In a comprehensive look at its grants, the council is proposing cutting funds to community organisations via its two community boards and ward committee and to its district-wide promotion fund.

Gone would be a $30,000 community event fund used to support smaller scale grass-roots events which help build and celebrate community pride within the district.

A lot of community groups will be quite concerned about the drops, said Morris.

The impact of rate rises would be felt more in Cambridge, because of higher capital values.

Susan O’Regan

The 21 per cent increase proposed for Pirongia was “just too high” and inequitable, said Cr Clare St Pierre because of the services the village got compared to Cambridge and Te Awamutu. Cr Roger Gordon said he was worried the budget contained some “nice to haves” like Te Ara Wai – $33 million over three years.

“Perhaps it’s not the right time,” he said and best pushed out to year four.

Deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk sought an assurance the tenure of the land identified for the museum in Te Awamutu was secure. Part of the site is leased from the Parish of St John.

“That needs to be resolved before we start rushing into spending money.”

Liz Stolwyk

Mayor Susan O’Regan was concerned at the amount of capital expenditure planned for Cambridge – Town Hall, Library and Water Tower.

“We’ve got three big projects here. I’m anxious in the climate we are in financially and the need for us to be prudent, I just want us to bear in mind that is where those dollars are falling currently. I would favour pushing the library out further.”

St Pierre said while every project on the capital list was “completely worthy,” she was unhappy with the “propensity” to have Cambridge featuring – three in Cambridge and none in the west.

“It doesn’t have that balance, it’s a little bit skewed.”

Stolwyk said the big capital projects in the Long Term Plan had been well consulted but she set staff and councillors the challenge of looking at its urban villages of Kihikihi, Pirongia and Karāpiro where momentum had been lost.

Strategy manager Melissa Russo told the council the consultation document – required by legislation – would be signed off by council next month and then go through a “rigorous process of sharing with our community.”