Maniototo ratepayers are facing a 5% increase in the ward component of their rates bill for the 2011-12 year, after two hours of "pruning" by the Maniototo Community Board yesterday.
Board members started the meeting with a proposed 7.9% increase in rates, and whittled it down by cutting the budget for several items.
Maniototo ratepayers will not know what their final bills will be until the general component of the rates take is decided by the Central Otago District Council.
The council's four community boards make recommendations to the council about budgets for the services, assets and amenities in their respective wards, which have an impact on the ward portion of the rates. The Cromwell, Vincent and Roxburgh boards will meet later this month to consider their budgets for the coming year.
Council corporate services manager Susan Finlay said there were two contributing factors to the rates rise that were out of the control of board members - inflation and the cost of insurance.
"Part of that [5%] increase is inflation and the other factor that is an issue that we don't have a lot of control over and that's gone up is insurance. Since the earthquake in Christchurch, all insurance premiums throughout the country have gone up, and there's not a lot we can do about it."
After going through the budgets and trimming expenses where they could and deferring some projects, board chairman Barry Becker said he thought the board had done its best.
"I think we can't go any harder than we have without affecting services."
Some of the increases in spending included $30,000 for an exterior paint job on a council-owned building, the Centennial Milk Bar.
Community facility officer Janice Remnant said the work was important.
"The board's spent a lot of money getting this building the way it is now and it would be regrettable to stop maintaining it,"she said.
Board member and Ranfurly Art Deco chairwoman Diane Paterson said it was a very important building for Ranfurly.
"Indirectly, it generates income for the town."
The board agreed to leave that sum in the budget along with $9700 for the Ranfurly Pool to be painted.
Ms Remnant said the interior of the pool was painted every year.
"It's quite an old concrete pool and it's in a harsh environment so the paint only lasts a year."
Spending on water will increase this year, with work on water and wastewater schemes in Ranfurly, Naseby and Patearoa adding $72,000 to the budget. District water services manager Russell Bond said savings could be made by deferring closed-circuit television inspections on the Ranfurly and Naseby water supply lines for a year.
"We've had a look at 10% of the lines in each of those schemes and from what we've found they're in really good nick so I'm comfortable if that spending is postponed."
