KEY POINTS:
North Shore City Council is aiming for a 5.9 per cent rates rise next year instead of the 8.42 per cent increase flagged in the former council's city plan.
The council's decision yesterday to aim for the lower rise to meet expenses was hailed as a "great achievement" by Mayor Andrew Williams, whose election promise was to bring down rates rises to a reasonable level.
He said the figure was a more affordable starting point for next year's public consultation on what should be in the budget.
To the average home owner, the lower rise means paying $1800 in rates instead of $1885.
There have been no projects axed to achieve that figure, though some, for example, a $250,000 grant to Enterprise North Shore business agency for its drive to create 400 jobs and add $20 million to the city's economy, face further scrutiny from cost-conscious councillors.
The lower rate rise owes much to an assumption that the council treasury policy will be changed to reduce how much debt and interest it has to pay in one year.
The proposed change allows loans to be repaid over 50 years instead of the present 30 years under the policy and trims 1.7 per cent off a rates rise.
A change was suggested to the council last year to bring North Shore's funding policy in line with other local authorities of a similar size and debt portfolio.
The proposed rates rise covers some risks of extra expense not provided for in the city plan. These include costs of reviewing the development contributions policy to comply with a High Court ruling.
The rate for 2007-08 is not affected by yesterday's meeting. It was approved last year by a council under former Mayor George Wood and the average rate rise for city expenses was 6.9 per cent.
