All of the scrimping, saving and budget-stretching done by the Dunedin City Council in the past week paid off yesterday, as it managed to keep the rates increase for the next financial year at 5%.
The debate over access to Dunedin's John Wilson Ocean Dr may be rekindled after city councillors resolved to look again at a barrier arm, after deciding last year it would be too expensive.
Frugality was the order of the day, as Dunedin City Councillors yesterday worked through a series of applications for civic grants for the next financial year.
Swim clubs and coaches will have to pay lane fees at Moana Pool from next year, although the proposed charges were scaled back after multiple pleas that they were unaffordable.
The council will investigate the possibility of increasing some business' rates to cover costs incurred by tourists to the council.
The Otago Settlers Museum was the main casualty of a "wash-up" at the end of the Dunedin City Council's budget-setting process yesterday, when an earlier decision to give it $2.16 million for fit-out costs was reduced to $1.25 million.
Pleas from the arts community for an arts and culture strategy for Dunedin have resulted in city councillors setting aside $20,000 for the development of one over the next two years.
The Dunedin Business Internship Programme will continue after councillors allocated $60,000 from the city's budget towards it.
It is back to the drawing board for a plan on how best to address Te Rauone's erosion issues after Dunedin City councillors considering improvements to the reserve, and whether to invest in a breakwater rock wall to protect it and private properties against further erosion, resolved instead to discuss the issue further with affected parties.
Dunedin city councillors yesterday agreed, subject to final approval, to borrow an additional $2.5 million to complete the redevelopment of the Dunedin Centre.
Funding for the Dunedin City Council's warehouse precinct plan will be brought forward three years to next year's budget, so staff can take advantage of significant private investment and improvement happening in the area now.
Dunedin city council staff will investigate the options for placing a 24-hour toilet in the Octagon, including where it should go and how much it would cost.
Dunedin city council staff will seek tenders for the removal of trees in Logan Park, including a row of poplars in Logan Park Dr (above) that is shading the University Oval cricket ground.
After partly reinstating its seal extension programme in the city's pre-draft budget in January, Duned
The only crematorium in the city will stay in Dunedin City Council hands - for the time being.
A plan to build an artificial turf at Logan Park and develop a new Maori consultation model have not found favour with people answering a questionnaire on the Dunedin City Council's draft long-term budget.
A simple signing off of the next year's remuneration for Dunedin city council's elected members turned into an attack on community boards yesterday when a councillor suggested they contributed "very little" to the running of the council and their wages should be given to councillors instead.
After a decade and multiple appeals and changes to the original proposal, the Dunedin City Council has approved a district plan change that will allow the development of a small section of Dunedin's harbourside.
A draft economic strategy for Dunedin's future is a starting point and needs further work including thorough consultation with the public, but has generally been welcomed by city councillors who agreed yesterday to release it for public consultation.
A busy week looms for Dunedin city councillors, who will today participate in a full council meeting, followed by at least three days of deliberating on the council's draft annual and long-term budgets, during which some big decisions must be made - in the light of bad news last week about Forsyth Barr Stadium finances.
