A total of 192 submissions were received to the plan, including 152 on sealing the car park and access road, council senior policy analyst Larissa Brown said.
The latter figure included a petition, counted as one submission, with nearly 400 signatures supporting the proposal. All bar one of the submissions received were in favour of the sealing.''
The number of submissions is definitely up on other years, probably double the usual number, and that's because of the recreation centre submissions,'' she said. Residents and ratepayers were told sealing the centre car park and access road would add between 24c and $2.36 to rates bills every year, depending on which ward they lived in.
The other option for funding the project was extending the term of the loan-funded grant for the recreation centre by six years, meaning no extra impact on rates.
Feedback on the annual plan closed on Monday and Mrs Brown said the 39 other submissions covered a wide range of topics, from community groups seeking funding for projects to organisations suggesting improvements or seeking a continuation of support from the council.
About 20 submitters who wanted to expand on their views will be heard at a council meeting today.
The council will meet on May 29 to consider all the submissions and discuss any changes to the plan.
The plan will be adopted and rates set for the coming year at the June 19 council meeting.
An overall rates rise of 3.25% was planned, down from the 4.33% increase projected in the long term plan.
Although the overall rates rise was 3.25%, rises in areas would vary, depending on the projects in those areas.
Last month, Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan said rural ratepayers could expect a ''negligible'' rates change while residents of townships faced a greater impact, with rate increases ranging from 5.5% to 7.95%.
Those towns included Waihola, where a sewage treatment upgrade was needed; Lawrence, where the council might make a loan-funded grant of up to $1.35 million towards the new Tuapeka Aquatic Centre; and Kaka Point and Stirling, where community service rates were introduced in 2012, to recognise they used community facilities like the Balclutha swimming pool.
