The Bay of Plenty Regional Council plans to spend $1 million a year for the next three years to dredge the Ōpōtiki Harbour navigation channel. Photo / LDR
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council plans to spend $1 million a year for the next three years to dredge the Ōpōtiki Harbour navigation channel. Photo / LDR
The Ōpōtiki District is facing an 8.9% overall rates rise this year – a substantial drop from the 16% rise forecast in its Long-Term Plan 2024-2034.
Ōpōtiki District Council approved an information document summarising the annual plan for public release at its meeting this week.
It states the lower figurehas been achieved through “strengthening partnerships, savings where possible and refining assumptions”.
Among the partnerships the council has been working on strengthening is that with Bay of Plenty Regional Council, which plans to spend $1 million per year for the next three years on dredging the Ōpōtiki harbour channel.
A spokesperson said the council was now able to be more accurate when estimating costs such as insurance, inflation and interest rates than it could be when the long-term plan was written, which accounted for the refining assumptions part of the explanation.
In the information document, Mayor David Moore said the “council has taken a disciplined and pragmatic approach to this Annual Plan”.
“During development of the Long-Term Plan, our community was clear about priorities: focus on the basics, manage costs carefully, and defer non-urgent spending where possible.
“This Annual Plan reflects that feedback. Savings have been achieved with minimal impact on core service delivery by refining assumptions, deferrals and efficiency gains.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Moore said 8.9% was still hard to put out to the public as a rate rise, however, it had taken a lot of work to get it down to that.
He thanked council staff who “kept getting sent away to re-look at stuff and come back with different options”.
The information document updates the public on some of the major projects the council intends to invest in over the coming year.
This includes more than $3.5 million for wastewater projects, including upgrades to the Potts Ave Wastewater Pump Station and improvements to the treatment plant required to renew its resource consent.
Stormwater projects with a budget of $827,000 include the Duke St West stopbank and upgrades to the Wellington St Basin stormwater network.
The latter is also expected to get $1.3m of central Government’s Regional Infrastructure Funding through a sub-loan via the regional council.
More than $1.8m is pegged for water supply projects, including plans to move the Te Kaha water treatment plant because water quality reduces during wet weather.
Reticulation work includes replacing and strengthening the water main from Ōtara Rd through to Ford St, which supplies much of the town’s water.
Roading projects account for more than $3.6m, including strengthening the detour route when there is a slip at the Waiotahe Bluffs. Targeted resilience upgrades to Ōhiwa Beach Rd also receive special mention.
Upgrades to resource recovery centres in Ōpōtiki, Te Kaha and Waihau Bay come to a combined $402,000.
Just under $1 million is planned for parks and reserves projects, including a new playground at Waiotahe Drifts, upgrades to public toilets near the Ōpōtiki Surf Lifesaving Club and at Hukuwai Beach and a new toilet at the end of Snells Rd.
The parks and reserves spending also includes continued investment in cycle paths, such as the Waiotahe link through the Waiotahe Drifts and following the Huntress Creek stopbank.
Further details about these capital projects are included in the information document.
Changes to the Long-Term Plan in the draft Annual Plan do not need full consultation but the council said it welcomed any feedback from the community on projects it would like to see included in future planning rounds, what the council could do better, and what it should do more or less of.
This feedback will be considered before the plan is officially adopted by June 30.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
