With the overall impact of Covid-19 still to be seen, it's important to share that we know we need to be prepared to be agile in our response over the next year, particularly because of the uncertainty over the level of fare revenue from public transport as people's travel patterns change.
We also discussed a joint loan with Wellington City Council to support the Wellington Regional Stadium Trust at a cost of $2.1 million to Greater Wellington which is repayable over 10 years. This loan facility, if needed, would have a very limited impact on rates in 2020/21.
We all have an opportunity to help the stadium by going to the rugby match on Sunday between the Hurricanes and the Crusaders - I'm going - and I hope to see you there.
Council also considered how we can continue our work to achieve our progressive ambitious target for GWRC operations to be carbon neutral by 2030. So our draft annual plan includes a new $2m internal budget for the council's low carbon initiatives which will be funded by borrowing and paid back from the sale of Greater Wellington's New Zealand Council Emissions Trading Scheme units, which are presently valued at around $7.2m.
All of GWRC's councillors are committed to this goal which we'd ambitiously set last August. Being a leader in this type of thinking means we need to make opportunities for showing how it can be done, and doing it ourselves.
There is no significant departure from the current Long Term Plan for 2018-28 so no consultation will be required on the draft annual plan, however, now is the opportunity for people to give early feedback on the direction of the next Long Term Plan which we have begun thinking about.
We will finalise and vote on the annual plan at Greater Wellington's Council meeting on June 25
