Tauranga City Council's draft Annual Plan is back in front of the public but the plan's operational budget has been slashed by $11 million after Covid-19.
Consultation on the original plan, based on a pre-Covid-19 world, finished on May 3 but public submissions and deliberations were put on hold as the country went into lockdown. But for the democratic process to work, it's vital that everyone has a say.
"It's really important for us too, that we don't just hear from the strong lobbyists that know our processes and know-how to come in and know how to get their groups together – often that is one or two demographics," Tauranga City Councillor Heidi Hughes said.
"This was set to go and there was a relatively large rates rise in it at that time because things were going really well, we had some big projects, some big growth items on there that needed to be funded. And then Covid hit and the whole game changed."
Tauranga City Councillor Jako Abrie said: "Those pressures and changing circumstances meant that we had to do our first draft annual plan and then take another look at things with the impact of Covid on Tauranga, on ratepayers, on our residents."
The council's bottom line has also taken a hit.