“We aren’t going to find the money for these things behind a couch somewhere. So elected members need to make some fundamental decisions, and consider what you are going to do and what can be cut.”
While no decisions can be made at council workshops, only at formal meetings, the workshops give elected members the opportunity to hear from various staff members about their departmental budgets, planned works programmes and other cost factors included in the draft budget.
During Tuesday’s workshop, councillors heard from building control manager Jared Scrivens, who explained ways in which some of the council’s costs around building consents could be reduced. He proposed an increase to the current accreditation levy - the charge calculated on the cost of building work and paid by the building owners or developers. The current charge is set at $1 per every $1000 of building work, an amount he said was notably less than that charged by neighbouring councils.
“South Taranaki and New Plymouth charge $1.70 and $1.80 respectively.”
Jared proposed an increase of 50 per cent, putting the levy up to $1.50, but councillors weren’t convinced it was enough.
“Why aren’t we putting ourselves straight in line with the other two councils?” asked Councillor Grant Boyde.
“I’m happy to do that - the more we bring in the less ratepayers pay,” replied Jared, who said other councils of a similar size to Stratford also charged notably more than Stratford did.
Other building-related fees and charges could also be increased, he said, identifying inspections and technical rates as other areas where Stratford District was charging less than neighbouring districts.
“What we don’t get in user pays, will go to the ratepayer.”
Mayor Neil said while builders and developers might complain about proposed price increases, the reality was they knew Stratford had been cheaper than the neighbouring districts, and any build costs are passed on to the homeowner rather than staying with the builders themselves.
Councillors also heard from customer and leisure services manager Andrea Mathews regarding the operational costs of the town’s new pool - Wai o Rua - and ways in which the council could increase revenue or cut costs.
A range of topics and options came under the microscope, with councillors quizzing Andrea on staffing numbers and ratios, cleaning expenses, opening hours, and costs related to having an external swim school provider versus bringing the service in-house.
Councillor Grant questioned the current level of charges paid by an external operator to run a swim school on the premises.
“I struggle with the idea that we, or the ratepayer, are actually subsidising these lessons.”
Deputy mayor Min McKay also asked for clarification on this.
“Are our ratepayers actually subsidising, or covering the costs to allow a profitable business to run from our facility?”
She asked if council would save money by running a swim school itself rather than through an external provider.
“You would literally be shutting a local business down if you did that,” pointed out councillor Annette Dudley.
Chief executive Sven said the swim school currently brought in a lot of children through the doors of the pool.
“So council would be worse off if the swim school wasn’t bringing those children in, but on the flip side, if the pool then wasn’t open those hours because the swim school wasn’t running, then council would save money.”
Andrea said previous proposals around increasing costs for the swim school operator had been met with a clear push-back.
“In 2013 we proposed introducing a charge per child and a lane hire charge for the swim school ... that failed under pressure from the swim club at the time.”
Councillor Grant said ways to recoup costs had to be found.
“(If) I tell my ratepayers 9 per cent of the rates is going to the pool, their response isn’t going to be pretty.”
The swim school wasn’t the only external provider under discussion, with councillors also discussing the cleaning of the pool.
“We could consider bringing that in-house, and having staff do it,” said Andrea. Staff already did some of the cleaning as it was she added, because they needed to react to issues as and when they arose, rather than leave messes for the cleaners at the end of the day.
The cleaning carried out after hours isn’t just a quick wipe and polish she said, and while cleaning could be moved in-house, the amount of work itself couldn’t be reduced.
“We are dealing with body fat.”
Other options to reduce costs include “going back to basics and just running a pool”, she said.
“No inflatables, no holiday programmes, no fitness programmes, just a pool.”
Reducing operating hours was another option councillors could consider, but she warned staffing split shifts was tricky with the current available workforce in the area.
Drawing the workshop to a close, with several more planned for councillors over the coming weeks, Mayor Neil said it was clear “there is a real concern from all here about ongoing costs”.
He said further discussions needed to happen before the draft annual plan was finalised.
“There is clearly a desire here to try to pull back on some of the costs of the pool, and if we can’t find ways to do that, we need to find some cuts elsewhere.”
Disclaimer: Editor Ilona Hanne is married to the CEO of Stratford District Council
