Council proposes to mow more after complaints

Controversial lawnmowing budget cuts will likely be reversed tomorrow by the Tauranga City Council following a public backlash that reserves were unusable.

At stake is $45,000 of rates removed from the $2 million lawnmowing budget last year by the cost-conscious council.

Tomorrow's meeting will consider going back to the former mowing schedule after the decision to mow less frequently led to a barrage of complaints during the spring and early summer.

The council has received at least 14 written complaints, numerous phone calls and three petitions including residents neighbouring Pyes Pa's Condor Reserve and Papamoa's Topaz Reserve. Issues included children being unable to kick balls or play cricket, the grass becoming a fire hazard and children trampling on hard-to-see dog droppings.

The council was expected to restore the $45,000 into its 2015-16 budget. In the meantime it will consider reprioritising current spending so that the problem was not repeated once the dry spell ended.

Another area hit by cost saving has been the Kopurererua Valley greenbelt skirting Route K, with hundreds of thousands of dollars cut from budgets during the last 10 years, to leave the current planting budget at $60,000. An alternative to further reductions next year was to add $100,000 to fund the removal of the inaccessible willow-infested forest and replant in accessible native wetland species.

In other decisions tomorrow, the council will consider closing Cliff Rd's Robbins Park Tropical Display House, saving $100,000 a year. The recommendation was to embark on "specific consultation on closing the tropical display house".

The meeting will also debate the possible sale of a three farms and a reserve acquired for future sports parks and reserves in Tauranga's growth areas. They are Smiths Farm near Cambridge Rd's Westridge subdivision, Merricks Farm off Pyes Pa Rd, Ohauiti Reserve and the lower end of Bethlehem's Parau Farms.

Nearly half the $10 million obtained from the sales would be spent buying land for sports fields in Papamoa East's undeveloped Te Tumu growth area.

Other proposals due to be discussed by the council tomorrow prior to going out for public consultation were:

- Boosting the economic development rate paid by Tauranga businesses to a one-off increase of 5 per cent. The extra money would accelerate initiatives like supporting tertiary education organisations and innovative business clusters. It would collect another $64,000 above the standard 2 per cent inflation adjustment.
- Shortening the debt recovery period for the $100 million Southern Pipeline by increasing development contributions over the next three years from the current $2840 per lot, to a maximum of $3600 per lot. Clearing the debt at 2045 would decrease the council's interest rate risk and "enhance the council's balance sheet capacity".