LTP 2012-2022 - Introduction - Hurunui District Council

More documents

Recommendations

Info

www.hurunui.govt.nz future, who should pay, and how to meet the expectations of our communities. The Government has expressed concern over high rating increases and expects councils to be restrained. Whereas we agree, unfortunately dramatic increases in our insurance costs, the new legislative requirement to meet New Zealand drinking water standards, and funding sewer and stormwater improvements, mean that we too have higher rating increases than we would have preferred. As a result of the Council’s decisions after considering public submissions, the increase in the 2012/2013 year has reduced from 6.94% (what we said in the draft Long Term Plan), down to 5.83%. The downside is the flow on effect to the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 years’ rates which will increase from 4.80% to 5.77% for 2013/2014 and from 4.62% to 5.37% in the 2014/2015 year. The primary causes for the increases in our rate projections can be attributed to the following items, all of which are further explained in the ‘key issues’ section of this plan. • Insurance has significantly risen as a direct result of the Canterbury earthquakes and other natural disasters, such as the Queensland floods. We have traditionally had comprehensive insurance cover, and we have budgeted to continue to do so. • We face huge capital outlay to become compliant with the legislated New Zealand Drinking Water Standards. The good news is that we will no longer have any of our water schemes on permanent boil water notices; but it comes at a price. We will be treating the water of our at-risk drinking water intakes in the 2012/13 year. This will enable us to be compliant in the short term but this is only an interim step. In the long term we will need to upgrade our schemes by 2027. To make this affordable, we will commence rating for the estimated $14 million (in today’s dollars), in the 2015/2016 year. • In recent years, we have incurred significant costs in upgrading some of our water supplies, sewer schemes and stormwater systems. The work undertaken has resulted in increased debt for those activities and we are at a stage where the interest and debt repayments need to be made and these have to be funded through rates. There are a number of other aspects that influenced the development of this Plan. We were guided by our proposed new vision of Community partnership in growth and wellbeing, as well as our core principles: • Focus on core services • Financial responsibility and affordability • Continuous improvement in service to everyone in our district • Facilitate appropriate growth in the district We have confirmed this new vision through the long term plan consultation process. It builds upon our previous vision which was based on a ‘wellness’ concept (Hurunui Wellness: “In Hurunui, we live the lives the rest of the world would love to live”). We wanted to further define it and convey that everything we do, we do in partnership with our communities. With your support for our plan and the services, infrastructure and facilities we provide and you pay for, we have confidence that we will be meeting the aspirations or expectations of our communities, which contribute to wellness and wellbeing. Important contributors to this Plan have been the many people in our district who are members of our boards and committees. In particular, we have taken into account the views of the Ward Committees and the Hanmer Springs Community Board on the submissions received affecting each of their respective wards. These groups, having been chosen by their local communities, provide valuable insight into what is considered important locally. All submissions were considered in the context of affordability, priorities for the district and Government’s new bill, ‘Better Local Government’. This bill, expected to be passed around September 2012, aims to provide better clarity about council’s roles, stronger governance, improved efficiency and more responsible fiscal management. The Government is concerned about increased public spending and debt levels and is requiring both central and local government to improve the efficiency of delivering public services and take a prudent approach to public debt. The new bill proposes that councils will have a new purpose -“providing good quality local infrastructure, public services and regulatory functions at the least possible cost to households and business”. This will replace the current purpose which references a responsibility to the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of communities. In addition, the Government is proposing to introduce legislation around fiscal responsibility to limit council expenditure growth to no faster than inflation and population growth. A strong Hurunui 10-Year Timeline 2012/13 Representation Review Nine New Miox Water Treatment Installations Targeted Tourism Rate and District Promotion Review Earthquake Prone Building Assessments Cheviot Library Relocation Local Government Elections Earthquake Prone Building Assessments Review of the District Plan completed 2013/14 2014/15 Central Government Elections Earthquake Prone Building Assessments Hanmer Springs Community Hall Extension Long Term Plan Review Drinking Water upgrade Hanmer Springs Sewerage Treatment Plant Upgrade Hanmer Springs Sports Stadium 2015/16 2016/17 Local Government Elections Cheviot Medical Centre Upgrade or Rebuild 6
Hurunui Community Long Term Plan 2012 - 2022 message coming through is for council’s to stick to core business. All this has an impact on what we decided to provide for now and into the future. Thanks to your support, we have confirmed a number of the proposals that we put to you. For example, we will proceed with our intent to review our method of rating for tourism and general district promotion in 2012/13. This is one example of where your views and suggestions have confirmed that it is timely to review our rating model. You also told us that you agree with our plan to assess earthquake prone commercial and public buildings in the district sooner rather than later in the interests of public safety, despite not being required to do this. Likewise, through your submissions, we have been able to confirm our direction to provide funds for legal advice relating to resource consents, district plan changes and policy matters; and to do our best to maintain our roading levels of service despite there being less funding available. Many of you submitted on local issues affecting your areas. Through hearing from you, we have been able to confirm our intent to: provide for a new or upgraded medical centre in Cheviot in 2016/17; move the Cheviot community library from the school into the Cheviot service centre in 2012/13; continue to work with you to finalise any proposal for a swimming pool in Amberley; enhance a number of facilities in Hanmer Springs (eg: the sports ground and community hall); and continue our work to secure access to the Hanmer Heritage Forest. We also confirmed our proposal to fund the Hanmer Springs Community Board through Hanmer Springs ratepayers (rather than district wide rates). Few people mentioned the proposal to build a public toilet in Rotherham in 2017/18 funded through the district rate, but we agreed to retain the budget for this in the meantime but will retest the need for this again in 2015 before going ahead. More information about all of these items is in the ‘Key Issues’ section of this plan. We received a large number of submissions about access to the Hurunui lakes (Lake Sumner, Lake Taylor and Loch Katrine). Although this was not something we highlighted in our draft Plan, it was clearly of importance to many of you. Through the submission process, we were able to confirm our intention to continue working with other groups as well as the Department of Conservation to help resolve the common issues affecting access. Potentially this is a complex situation requiring not only significant funding, but resolving issues over public and private land ownership. We have included into this plan, a number of other items that came to our attention through submissions, such as: a $5,000 contribution toward the roof repair of the Balcairn Public Hall (via Amberley amenity rates); to continue contributing $5,000 per annum via a district wide rate toward the Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund; approved expenditure of $45,000 toward the septic tank replacement at the Gore Bay Camp; to spend $80,000 over two years to upgrade or replace the Cheviot Hills Reserve public toilets; to extend our Smokefree Policy to include more outdoor areas gradually and within existing budgets; to spend $5,000 to promote responsible dog owner behaviour later this year; to adjust our wording in our Waste Minimisation Plan to show our desire to work toward zero waste to landfill. In light of the restrictions we face, we also had to say ‘no’ to a lot of people who requested money or initiatives that required money. Whereas these submissions had merit, they were either out of our scope or unaffordable, particularly given the Government’s bill, or we did not consider them to be essential at this time. Some of the requests we declined included: $25,000 toward the Wellbeing North Canterbury’s manager’s salary; assistance toward the aquisition of a doctor’s house in Hanmer Springs; $7,500 per year to develop a sister city relationship with Honghu City, China; employing a full time forest ranger in Hanmer Springs; introducing a $5 bounty fee for possums; contributing $25,000 toward a men’s support programme to reduce suicide; introducing an eagle breeding programme. As a result of the continuing downturn in the tourism industry in Canterbury, the Council has reforecast the revenue projections for the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa. As a result, the revenue derived from the Thermal Pools operation was reduced from $6.671 million to 6.4 million. There was also a reduction of $65,000 in surplus forecast from the cafe operation and a $31,000 reduction in other revenue sources. With the benefit of some quantity survey estimates, there was a reassessment of the capital expenditure for the changing rooms and administration building for the pools operation from $1 million to $2 million. For the first three years, the reduction in the revenue has resulted in the Council spending more on reserve - based expenditure than it is earning from the surpluses derived from the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa. but the Council is comfortable in funding this from utilising some of the existing reserve balance that has been generated by the surpluses in the past. CentralGovernment Elections Rotherham public Toilets Local Government Elections 2018/19 2017/18 2019/20 Representation Review Long Term Plan Review 2020/21 Central Government Elections Long Term Plan Review 2021/22 7
Page 1 and 2: t Long Term Plan 2012-2022 Hurunui
Page 3 and 4: Hurunui Community Long Term Plan 20
Page 5: Hurunui Community Long Term Plan 20
Page 9 and 10: About the Plan Introduction The Loc
Page 11 and 12: How Your Rates are Spent The Counci
Page 35 and 36: Table 1: Hurunui Community Long Ter

LTP 2012-2022 - Introduction - Hurunui District Council

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?