Submissions: Put your views firmly on the council table

Funding the work on the Whanganui stopbanks attracted a number of submissions. Photo/File

May was a busy month for regional councillors with a lot of the time taken up with the annual draft plan and submissions.

Prior to becoming a councillor I was a bit sceptical about the value of a submission but, sitting at the council table, I can confidently tell you that your submissions do make a difference.

Every submission is placed before the councillors 10 days before the hearing and every one is read and discussed around the table.

In total, we had 81 submissions and, of those, 40 people spoke to their submissions at the hearings. I would like to thank all those who took the time to submit, and especially those who took the time to talk to their submission.

It is valuable input in helping us in the decision-making process. It's easy to write to the media after the event giving your personal view on what should or shouldn't happen, but I encourage you to get involved at the front-end of the process where you can make a real difference.

An example was the funding of the stopbanks along the east side of the Whanganui River.

Although I was not on the regional council when the decision was made to complete the upgrade and maintenance work on the stopbanks, I certainly take responsibility for how Horizons is going to fund this work.

The initial documentation I saw had options of repayment over one, five and 16 years. The 16-year option added a massive $836,763 to the cost of the works in interest payments.

In April 2014, we released a media statement saying that we thought the one-off scheme rate increase in the 2013-14 annual plan would be too great for our ratepayers and suggested three years.

After more discussion around the council table, the draft annual plan 2014-15 went to consultation with the ratepayers of the region with one-, three- and five-year options.

There were several submissions with strong support for the one-year option, saving over $140,000 in interest.

Grey Power, an organisation which represents over 1600 members in our region, and the Rural Community Board, representing over 2000 ratepayers in our region, submitted in favour of the one-year option - along with a large number of ratepayers who rang me.

Wanganui is fortunate that Horizons will post 20 per cent of the total cost of the general rate and another 10 per cent from the Horizons council reserves, allowing us to bring Wanganui's costs down to a manageable level.

We want to ensure we make this region a great place to live, work and play.

If you have any questions or concerns, you are welcome to contact me - email rcl95@clear.net.nz, mobile 0274 425 920.