Just 16 have say on key plan

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait

With just two weeks left, only 16 submissions have been made to the Rotorua Lakes Council on its long-term plan for 2015-25.

Council staff say they are not overly concerned by the low number but strategy, policy and finance committee chairwoman Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said she was surprised and encouraged people to view the documents and have their say.

The council had received 672 of a record 1890 submissions to its Te Arawa Partnership Proposal, with two weeks to go in that submission process.

It received a total of 443 submissions during its last long-term plan process in 2012.

The plan sees the average business rate increase by 11 per cent, farm rates up 19 per cent, residential rates up 6 per cent and rural residential rates up 8 per cent.

The council is also proposing to get rid of the weekly rubbish bag collection, replacing it with kerbside rubbish and recycling bins emptied fortnightly.

Plans are also proposed for a $15 million refurbishment of the Aquatic Centre, the demolition of Community House and the creation of a new council-controlled organisation to be called Rotorua Contracting.

Mrs Raukawa-Tait said the council had done a lot of consultation in the past 12 months.

"This plan is very important and people still have time to look at it and some of those important issues in it.

"Just 16 does surprise me but there are a number of forums coming up, so we may get some more after that. We often get a lot of submissions in the last week but it would be good to see a few more."

Council chief financial officer Thomas Colle said there was no way of knowing how many submissions they would get, "but we hope we'll get more".

"We want to know what levels of service and what projects the community wants, and whether residents support what we are proposing in order to progress towards our short and long-term goals and achieve the outcomes wanted for Rotorua.

"We think we've got a good understanding of the community's expectations, but we need that confirmation and guidance from the community to ensure council is on the right track," Mr Colle said.

The council is running public information sessions on the plan this Thursday from 3-7pm, Saturday from 10am-2pm, next Wednesday from 10am-12pm, and Saturday, May 30, from 10am-2pm. All are at the Rotorua Library.

To view the long-term plan discussion document and make a submission, go to the website www.rdc.govt.nz.