The proposed contribution quadruples last year’s dividend of $250,000. It reflects a record-breaking year for turnover and thousands of extra hours worked by QRS staff and its contractors, particularly in the weeks following Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023.
“The havoc and devastation after Cyclone Gabrielle required a huge response from our staff and local contractors. QRS’s pain reflected that of our entire community, and it is a testament to our hard-working crews that so much could be achieved from inside our region before other help and support could get through.”
QRS is a Council-Controlled Trading Organisation wholly-owned by Wairoa District Council. As a CCTO, QRS operates for the purpose of making a profit so contributions can be channelled back to the council.
The Wairoa District Council’s proposed rates increase will reduce by a third following a projected increased shareholder distribution from QRS.
The planned contribution will offset the proposed rates increase, with the new proposed average increase now likely to be just under 10 percent, well under the initial proposed increase of 15.4 percent.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said the intended increased QRS dividend would be used prudently to offset the cost escalations and mitigate the rates burden.
“We will continue to work on our procurement policies to ensure we deliver the best value for the community.
“This again shows the importance of a locally-owned contracting company. We saw the benefits of having infrastructure and specialised staff on the ground in Wairoa when we were isolated due to Cyclone Gabrielle. Now our entire community will benefit through this intended increased distribution which is a credit to the QRS board, management and staff. This also demonstrates that QRS is in synch with our community, and we are all very fortunate and grateful that we are in a position to utilise options like this. This planned distribution demonstrates the importance of QRS as a major and locally owned contractor in our district.
“Last Thursday, when elected members adopted the Wairoa District Council 2023/24 Annual Plan Engagement Document, we were hopeful of a reduction to our original proposed average rate forecast. However, as part of our Annual Plan process, we genuinely wanted to share the situation we were in at that time with our community.
“As we have all seen, post-Cyclone Gabrielle has left a rapidly changing situation, and it has been great to be able to confirm a new proposed average rate now and share that information with the public.
“We signalled from the get-go that we would be pursuing options to reduce the proposed increase, and we will continue to work to gain additional external funding.
“Although we have managed to offset some of the increased costs, it does not take away from the fact that rising costs due to supply and demand issues and increasing inflation have put real pressure on the budgets Council forecasted for this year. It is a situation many councils across New Zealand are in.
“In our 2021-31 Long-Term Plan, we indicated the average rate increase for 2023/2024 would be 7.8 percent. We did allow for rising costs but did not foresee just how high these increases would be, and we certainly couldn’t predict we would be hit with extreme weather events in 2022 and now Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.
“As ratepayers, none of us sitting around the council table want significant increases, but the reality is that costs are spiralling, and we have a lot of work to do and pay for to rebuild and make Wairoa the best it can be.
“Again, I acknowledge that making ends meet and finding additional money to pay a rate increase at this time is something people will not be happy about. We will continue to work hard to secure additional external funding over the coming weeks.”
