Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith: Council is facing some tough decisions

Unless councillors vote to significantly increase the proposed 6.8 per cent rates rise, it's hard to see council embark on any big new projects until matters around local government reform are made clearer. Photo / ManawatuNZ.co.nz

Opinion:

Months of work comes up for debate on June 9 when the council starts deliberations on the shape of the 10-Year Plan 2021-31.

Councillors and council staff began putting together the draft of the triennial-mandated plan last October, and public submissions closed mid-May.

From those more than 700 submissions, and through eight public hearings last week with many submitters speaking to their proposals, it's obvious that residents also put plenty of thought and work into the draft plan.

My thanks to council colleagues for familiarising themselves with what amounted to more than eight hours straight of reading material, and for their dedication and stamina during the hearings.

That there was so much input says a great deal about public engagement with the things that matter to Palmy. Thank you for your time and effort.

It's great to see such a high level of interest and involvement in the process, and to hear about community amenities, aquatic facilities, active communities and transport, covered bowling greens, environmental and arts projects that submitters – young and old - really value.

We were also made aware of concerns by other submitters who are unhappy with rate increases and increased debt.

When the council meets on June 9 to debate the issues, budgets, rates and debt levels – remembering that councillors too are ratepayers – we also have to work around two major challenges – Covid and central government's forthcoming local government reforms.

During last year's lockdown with uncertainty about how Covid would affect the local economy, we as a council made the decision not to go ahead with a proposed 4.4 per cent rates increase. Instead, we went with a 1.95 per cent rise.

Now that we are back to full operations and contributing towards the city's Covid recovery plan, a proposed 6.8 per cent increase is needed to keep up with higher post-Covid expenses and to maintain our progress as a city.

Quite rightly, we have to focus on our Three Waters (fresh, storm and waste) while playing catch-up with other infrastructural utilities. That includes roads, pipes, footpaths, pathways, rubbish and recycling which all need continued, and in some cases, extra investment.

With so much more heavy traffic than they were designed or are funded for by Waka Kotahi: NZ Transport Agency, local highways are taking a real beating.

Our draft plan also allows for Nature Calls – an extensive project to redefine how we deal with wastewater treatment and disposal. While we have been proactive about this and gone early, this major multimillion-dollar cost is not something we could have avoided for much longer.

The big however is what shape the Government's local body reforms will take.

I, along with other mayors, made representations to delay the 10-Year Plan for a year until after Government's Three Waters decision had been made, removing any uncertainties about planning and costs.

Now, these are the challenges that must be weighed up by your representatives through committee of council debate next week.

Unless councillors vote to significantly increase the proposed 6.8 per cent rates rise, it's hard to see council embark on any big new projects until matters around local government reform are made clearer.

• Grant Smith is the mayor of Palmerston North.