Extra costs prompt rates hike

RATES are likely to rise by around 3% in the Stratford District, due to extra costs not being factored in to the earlier forecast rise of about 1.4%.
Submissions to the annual plan were heard and discussed by the council's policy and services committee on Thursday, where councillors found extra costs totalling $200,000 had been added to the budget, meaning the desired low rise was not possible.
``We have to explain now why when we were playing around with less than 1%, now we're coming up with 3%,'' said Mayor Neil Volzke, as the meeting ended.
``We've had $200,000 of extra expenses added, of which $106,000 is from the water project being brought forward. The balance is an increase in known costs that have
occurred since we did the draft,'' he says.
A submission to the council from corporate services manager Morkel Swart presented a list of adjustments, one of which was an increase of about $40,000 in insurance premiums, a result of the earthquakes in Christchurch.
Insurance for material damage insurance is going up by between 50 and 100%, while for below ground infrastructure, insurance will cost 100% more. The other large cost was
$106,300, which is being added to the rates this year to pay for design work on the new water treatment plant.
This will enable the council to meet a compliance deadline and reduce the risk of budget and time overruns.
The money will not increase the total cost of the project. It just means the council begins to pay for it from this year in, rather than from the following year. The committee made
some last minute changes to the allocation for kerbing, channeling and footpath extensions, which it had decided to suspend for the year at the meeting in February.
Instead, it was decided to allocate $80,000, a cut from the original estimate of $140,000. At present, no new work is scheduled, although work planned and paid for from this year's allocation is being done.
Neil Volzke questioned the wisdom of removing the fund from the budget, which had been proposed, as it could be difficult to fit it back into future budgets. ``The choice is if we take it out now, we may have difficulty reinstating it again. By choosing not to fund it, should the council decide to do work that isn't identified now, we won't have any money to do it, we would have to wait a year after introducing rates money back in again.''
The annual plan decisions still need to be ratified by the full council at its next meeting.