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Saturday, 5 April 2025

Consultation rejected for annual plan

    1. Regions

    The Southland District Council has decided there will be no formal consultation on its annual plan for 2025-26.

    This year’s annual plan is based on year two of the long-term plan 2024-34 (LTP34).

    As there were no significant or material differences from what was budgeted for year two of LTP34, the council decided a formal consultation process was not required, it said in a statement.

    Overall rates in the annual plan 2025-26 were budgeted to increase by an average of 7.23% ($5.2 million), less than the 7.9% that was planned for year two of the LTP34.

    Several factors have contributed to the $5.2m increase.

    The biggest portion is $2.7m of rates associated with a planned larger roading programme, which has not received the anticipated level of funding from the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA). This will result in a $7m surplus over the three-year funding period.

    The council will continue to seek other government funding opportunities to undertake the work not funded by NZTA.

    If the opportunities arise, council will use the $7m to contribute towards its 45% share of the funding. Should the $7m not be fully utilised, council has elected to use any surplus to pay off roading debt and hold the remainder in roading rate reserves.

    A further $1.66m is due to stormwater, wastewater and drinking water costs, from increased depreciation funding, loan and principal repayments, maintenance increases, insurance and electricity

    The average rates change for a residential property across the district will be about $345 (9%), or $7 per week.

    The proposed rates change for individual properties will vary depending on the type of property, its location and the services it pays for, as well as its capital value and changes to the value of the property resulting from the recent revaluations.

    By land use sector the proposed average rate increase varies. The average increase for a farm is about $190 (3%), $900 (7%) for a dairy farm, $600 (15%) for a forestry property, $245 (10%) for lifestyle, $700 (7%) for commercial, $460 (8%) for industrial, $160 (7%) for mining and $790 (6%) for other properties.

    — APL