Rates for the Queenstown Lakes District are set to rise by an average of 7.95% but Cr Vanessa van Uden says she will vote against the increase when the council meets in Wanaka on Tuesday to adopt the draft annual plan.
Cr van Uden said she was not convinced enough had been done to cut expenses and keep rate increases as low as possible.
"I recognise a lot of steps have been taken this year to save on expenses, and council staff should be praised for that. But I do not believe enough had been done," she said.
"In many cases the council knew about areas, which are hugely over budget - like the water contract - but not enough was done about it. We can't just keep putting rates up to fund gold-plated versions of the service we provide."
"Even though there are good elements in the draft annual plan, the rate increase is not acceptable, so I will be voting against adopting the plan on this basis," Cr van Uden said.
Mr Geddes said the 7.95% the increase was "higher than I would have liked it to be, but is is still a great effort to lower our expenses to this level".
"Costs could perhaps have been cut in other areas as well, but it would mean significantly lower service levels. Therefore I would welcome the public to give their feedback through submissions to the annual plan," Mr Geddes said.
The 7.95% is an average across the district, but the actual increases vary between the areas and different property types.
Generally, Queenstown gets the highest increases, with 10.94% for residential properties, while residential properties in Wanaka get through with a 4.20% increase. Higher value country dwellings and primary industry in all areas will generally see the highest percentage increases.
QLDC finance general manager Stewart Burns said the focus of the draft annual plan had been to deliver greater value for money to the ratepayers.
The council had been challenged with four issues, which were not provided for in the 10-year-plan: Firstly, volumes of solid waste had been reduced more than expected, leading to a reduced net revenue of $502,000. Secondly, the funding for Lakes Leisure programmes and activities required an additional $356,000.
The third matter was the regulatory area, which has seen increased legal and insurance costs of $552,000. Finally, the council had taken over additional reserve land, resulting in increased maintenance costs of $211,000.
"If we had simply added those extra costs into the amount covered by rates, we would have seen a rates increase of 11.9%, which clearly was not acceptable," Mr Burns said.
If the plan is adopted by the council, it will be open for submissions from April 17 to May 17, and consultation meetings will be held during this period.
