The Western Bay of Plenty District Council has adopted its 2010/11 Annual Plan after considering 179 submissions resulting from the 30 March – 30 April public consultation period.

The plan outlines Council’s infrastructure and service programmes for the 2010/11 financial year (1 July 2010 – 30 June 2011) and how much money will be spent paying for them.

In adopting the plan Council resolved to collect $28m in District Rates.  This translates to ratepayers paying, on average, an additional 4.2 per cent in District Rates of which 2 per cent is an allowance for inflation leaving a 2.2. increase in real rates.

In addition, 1.1 per cent more rates will be collected because of growth in the number of rateable properties in the District.

The average District Rate increase for 2010/11 is 0.1 per cent higher than the 4.1 per cent average increase for the 2009/10 year, where $26.58m in District Rates was generated.

Mayor Ross Paterson said, as a rural local authority responsible for servicing a large geographic area with many small communities, his Council’s focus continues to be on meeting the fundamental ‘live’, ‘work’ and ‘play’ needs of ratepayers.

“This focus on ‘getting the basics right’ has been a particularly challenging task over the last 12 months due to the global economic downturn.

“We expect this challenge to continue during the 2010/11 year as procurement and other costs beyond Council’s control, such as electricity, will continue to put financial pressure on our operations.”

Alongside these short to medium term challenges Ross said the Council was also focused on the issue of debt management.

“In recent years Council has invested in large projects that depend on growth to repay debt.  As growth slows, interest costs rise because existing debt is not paid off as quickly as first expected.

“Council’s continued focus on best value for money has been fundamental to developing a proposed work programme that maintains or improves levels of service while keeping rates under control,” said Ross.

Background on significant decisions in the 2010/11 Annual Plan

Town centre development rates
In the draft Annual Plan, Council proposed new targeted rates for town centre development in Waihi Beach, Te Puke and Omokoroa and to increase the rate already charged in Katikati. This would help fund the implementation of town centre plans.

Following submissions, Council resolved to establish the rates at Waihi Beach and Te Puke but to set the rate at zero for 2010/11.  For Omokoroa the rate has been set at $10 per property and for Katikati, it has been increased from $10 to $20 per property.  These decisions were made as part of the review of Council’s Economic Strategy, an amendment to Council’s Long Term Plan (covering the period 2009-19).

Community Halls
Council helps hall committees fund capital expenditure on their buildings by levying a targeted rate over a catchment or area of benefit for each hall.  As part of the 2010/11 Annual Plan process four areas of benefit were reviewed and new boundaries established.

Community Organisations
In response to submissions, Council has increased funding to some community organisations.  Katikati Open Air Art will receive a grant to provide for the maintenance of its murals and Surf Lifesaving NZ will be extended to provide services at Maketu.

Te Puke town centre walkway project
Council has allocated $500,000 in 2010/11 and $300,000 in 2011/12 to develop the planned walkway between Jellicoe Street and Jubilee Park.  This will be loan funded and repaid from the Te Puke Community Roading budget over 5 years.

Waihi Beach Coastal Protection
In late February 2010 Council awarded a $1.235m contract to Transfield Services Limited for coastal protection works at Waihi Beach.

Transfield's tender price was well below initial engineering estimates of $3.4m. The difference is largely due to timing.  Engineering estimates were completed in 2006, before the current economic downturn, when construction costs were running at a premium.  In addition, the contract price reflected Transfield’s ready access to rock from its own quarry at Waihi Beach and the use of other plant and material already in the area.

The reduction from the original estimates for this work has had a direct impact on the forecast targeted rates for Waihi Beach that were included in the Long Term Plan 2009-19.  As a result, the targeted rates for the Waihi Beach Ward of $27 per property proposed in the Long Term Plan are expected to reduce to $10 per property.  In addition, the targeted rates for beachfront properties are expected to be much lower than forecast.