The council meeting on Thursday. Photo / Felix Desmarais / LDR
The council meeting on Thursday. Photo / Felix Desmarais / LDR
Rotorua will see a nearly 9.2 per cent rates increase in 2022, and an average rise of 3.8 per cent over the following nine years, if a draft Long-term Plan gets the council thumbs up.
On Thursday, Rotorua Lakes Council unanimously approved its 2021-2031 Long-term Plan document for public consultation.
The decision was met with applause from some elected members and council staff members in the room, some of whom were wearing T-shirts with the Long-term Plan's "Mahi" branding.
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick called the document "fantastic", "bold" and "transformational".
"We have got to lift our community's hopes, and our community's desire that we all live in a place we love and cherish.
"That's why we're making these mokopuna decisions today."
The consultation document will not be available to the public until March 30, but the council also approved draft supporting documents that reveal the plan's financial strategy.
Speaking at the meeting, council chief financial officer Thomas Colle said the strategy was one of the "underpinning items" of the Long-term Plan, along with the infrastructure strategy.
"Our financial strategy is focusing on investing in our district and promoting housing [and] supporting a safer CBD."
Colle said there had been a significant increase in residential property valuation and the council proposed to reduce the Uniform Annual General Charge from $475 to $425 to reduce the impact of this.
In the draft financial strategy, it stated the Long-term Plan was built around ensuring the council finished the projects it had started, such as the museum, lakefront redevelopment, the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre and "creating conditions for safe, thriving communities and housing development.
"To enable this, there will need to be an approximately 9.2 per cent rates increase in the first year."
Rates funding would enable residential and industrial opportunities, as well as attracting "the best talent" to achieve the council's goals.
It would also enable investment in core essential services such as roading, waste and Three Waters.
Debt would also increase from a 2021 forecast year end position of $261 million to more than $440m in 10 years.
"The increase in debt will be monitored closely and is considered financially viable not only due to the population growth … but also due to the current and expected long-term suppression of financing costs," the financial strategy document read.
Rotorua Lakes Council chief financial officer Thomas Colle. Photo / File
Fees and charges would also see an increase under the draft plan, including doubling the cost of some library services. The cost of dying could also go up, with increases of up to six per cent on burial and cremation services.
Councillor Sandra Kai Fong asked if increases to subdivision building fees would be a deterrent to housing development. Colle said it would not be because the increases - at the most 167 per cent - were not a significant increase in cost overall.
The financial strategy draft plan also revealed the council was investigating selling about $11m worth of assets over the 10 years of the plan to reduce pressure on debt. It said assets would only be sold if the council got a fair price for them, but didn't expand on what assets they were.
The draft 10-year capital expenditure programme proposed a spend of nearly $173m on sewerage, $159m on sport, recreation and the environment - including just over $61m for the Westbrook sport and recreation precinct project, nearly $125m for roads and footpaths, just over $80m for arts and culture and $75m for stormwater.
The direction for the draft Long-term Plan was developed in a series of 13 public-excluded workshops.
In the meeting, council corporate planning and governance planner Oonagh Hopkins said the consultation document set out to "present the right debate" with the community.
"Are we focusing on a balance between the community's needs and aspirations, the services we are looking to deliver and, ultimately, the community's willingness to pay?
"Long-term planning does mean long term. It's not just what is going to be achieved by the council of the day within the three-year term.
She said the 2021-2031 Long-term Plan, when finalised, would be the document that connected the council's vision to action.
"It presents the actions that will move the district forward.
The Long-term Plan, named 'Mahi', consultation document will be available for public feedback from March 30. Photo / Felix Desmarais / LDR
"With everything that has been going on around us and the massive changes we are seeing on a daily, monthly and yearly time frame, we also should be cognisant that the kaupapa has not changed. Vision 2030 is still guiding everything we do."
At the meeting, Audit NZ audit director Leon Pieterse said Audit NZ had issued an unqualified opinion on the Long-term Plan consultation document that it was "fit for purpose" for consultation purposes.
"If we had any concerns we would have issued a qualified opinion," he said.
Councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said the consultation document showed the council had a vision for Rotorua and was "solutions-focused" and had "the courage to do what is required".
Deputy mayor Dave Donaldson said the draft plan was "visionary" and "comprehensive".
Mayor Steve Chadwick said the draft plan was "a long time coming".
"We've seen and felt the concerns in our community. We've heard our community.
She said it was a "transformational approach".
Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick. Photo / File
"Let's listen to our community. Let's be challenged, it is challenging for many in our community, what we're proposing today, but let's listen to them now.
Earlier in the week, Local Democracy Reporting asked the council why the consultation document would not be released to the public following approval at Thursday's meeting.
A council spokeswoman said there was a process the council needed to go through with auditors to have the document ready for the public.
The council's Long-term Plan consultation document will be released on March 30 and public feedback on it will be accepted until April 30 at 4pm.
The public can provide feedback through the council's online Let's Talk platform, in writing with a feedback form and at face-to-face events.
Comments on the council's Facebook page will be considered but are not considered formal feedback on the draft plan.
