The books would still be bought from the council’s existing fund for book renewals.
Consultation on the annual plan ran for a month in April and 310 submissions were received, 66 of them about the proposed rates rise. Of those submissions, 57 did not support the increase. The main reason given was the impact of increasing costs across the board for those in the community, council senior policy analyst Rebecca Gallagher’s report to the council said.
Nine submissions were in support and acknowledged the cost inflation the council was also facing, said the report.
The council staff’s preferred option was the 7.04 per cent increase and to use $1.6 million of the general rates reserve to fund projects in the annual plan, the report stated.
Speaking in support of the 7.04 per cent increase, mayor James Denyer said feedback from the consultation was “pretty muted” considering the rates increase was the “main item” the council consulted on. He said they received more feedback about upgrades to the Dave Hume Pool in Katikati.
There were 161 submissions about the pool.
”I view that as a general acceptance of the rate rise and the understanding of the inflationary environment we are in,” Denyer said.
Lowering the rate to 7.04 per cent “was a good thing” and told the community the council had listened to them, he said.
”I would warn strongly against going any further. It would be seriously imprudent given the ongoing inflation and the cost of the storm damage still to be factored in.
”I promised that when I got elected that I’d make the tough decisions and that we would be a council that didn’t kick things down the road.”
The rates rise was “at the bottom end” when compared to neighbouring councils, he said.
Thames Coromandel District Council’s rates increase was 11.6 per cent, and Matamata-Piako District Council was 13.79 per cent, Denyer said.
The 7.04 per cent increase was the “prudent decision for me,” the mayor said.
The council’s repair bill for storm damage to infrastructure from the Auckland Anniversary weekend severe weather event and Cyclone Gabrielle was estimated to be $20 million. This did not include damage in Waihī Beach caused by flash flooding in May.
Councillor Rodney Joyce wanted to see the budgets cut back “much further” and said he had “put forward a spreadsheet suggesting a rates increase of 3.53 per cent”.
”Not that I expected the council to agree to everything in that, but I just wanted to show what was possible.
”People are hurting. They’re looking for a signal from us that we’re holding our belts. People’s mortgage costs have gone through the roof.”
Councillor Allan Sole supported Joyce.
“We still are asking a lot of people that are going to struggle and we are not assisting them too much at present,” he said.
Councillor Margaret Murray Benge said: “I think we all round this table are sitting in a pretty privileged position and haven’t got a clue as to how people are really coping out there in the community at the moment.”
”[The] increase is above the inflation rate and what we are doing is just reinforcing the inflation rate to stay where it is, and we do have a responsibility to bring it down.”
Councillor Don Thwaites said the increase was “prudent” for the council’s business going forward.
”I believe 7.04 [per cent] in the current state of affairs is a good result,” he said.
Deputy mayor John Scrimgeour said the 7.04 per cent was a “reasonable expectation”.
He said that during Covid the council had reduced the rates increase to 1.98 per cent one year and the implication on the rates increase the following year was “a bit of a shock” because it went up to 9 or 10 per cent.
”I’m very conscious and mindful that we don’t want to be exacerbating the future situation.”
The 7.04 per cent rates rise was passed with eight councillors in support and four against. Councillors also agreed to delay adopting the annual plan until August 30 because the district’s property revaluations were not yet finished and to consult further on the financial contributions paid by developers.
Gallagher said the property revaluations would “hopefully” be publicly notified this week.
Further consultation on the draft financial contributions will run from June 19 to July 9. The rates increase would still apply from July 1, with the first instalment notices sent out in September.
How they voted
For the 7.04 per cent rates increase: James Denyer, John Scrimgeour, Anne Henry, Richard Crawford, Grant Dally, Andy Wichers, Murray Grainger, Don Thwaites.
Against: Rodney Joyce, Margaret Murray-Benge, Tracey Coxhead, Allan Sole.
- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air.
