Stratford councillors have voted for a lower rates increase than originally set out in the Long Term Plan.
Stratford councillors have voted for a lower rates increase than originally planned for the coming year.
At Tuesday's Council meeting, held remotely via the Zoom app, councillors were asked to approve the release of the draft Annual Plan for community feedback.
Originally the draft annual plan had included a rates increase of 5.72 per cent, as had been set for year three of the Long Term Plan for 2018 - 2028. Instead, the annual plan is now going out to the community for feedback, with a proposed 4.3 per cent rates increase.
Councils have been asked to look at other options due to the economic effect of Covid-19 on their communities, Tiffany Radich, director of corporate services, told elected members.
Councillors received a report from her setting out four potential options from sticking with the original increase, down to a 0 per cent increase for councillors to discuss.
Councillors didn't need to choose one of those four options she said, but could use them as a starting point to determine what the increase should be, if any.
"The options show what could be taken out of budgets, what could be cut."
She said a low or 0 per cent increase could result in overspending.
"You need to be aware of the danger of cutting too much out of the budget."
Chief Executive, Sven Hanne, said in all four options, council staff had avoided reducing key infrastructure spending.
"That would be adding to a problem otherwise."
When it came to making cuts to budgets such as the library, chief executive Sven Hanne said cutting costs would reduce the level of service offered to residents.
"The library is already hurting. 50 to 60 per cent of library loans are books purchased in the past year."
Budgets had been reduced by half or a quarter where possible he said, rather than remove whole budgets.
"The closer you go to a 0 per cent increase, the tougher those measures will be."
He said making cuts now wasn't always sustainable in the long term.
"One word of caution from me, any percentage you shave off now, you effectively are adding to the next year."
Councillors then began discussing the numbers.
Grant Boyde said it was important to get the balance right, and he was keen for the increase to be lower than originally planned. Of the options given, he said he felt somewhere between option two (an increase of 4.9 per cent) and option three (an increase of 3.86 per cent) was the right place.
"I feel an increase in the early 4s is where we need to be."
Amanda Harris said she agreed with the increase sitting somewhere between option two and three.
"I am keen that the forestry study goes ahead at full steam, but also in light of the CEOs comments, I am leaning towards option two, to give a little relief now but also for later years."
Min McKay said she had done "a little bit of calculating" as to what the savings would actually look like for an individual ratepayer.
"Between options one and two, the difference is about 44 cents a week."
The difference between option one (5.72 per cent increase) and three was about $1 a week, she said.
"So while I support doing our bit, the actual difference is not going to actually provide any real relief. We will give little relief with the consequence of a lack of service being delivered."
Option two, with a proposed saving of $119,000 from the original plan, was okay with what was being cut she said, leaving an acceptable level of service.
Vaughan Jones asked for some clarification on the money in the budget going towards Tapuae Roa and if that could be cut at all. He also questioned spending on maintenance in council buildings such as carpet replacement and if that was necessary,
Sven said he agreed replacing a carpet was not key infrastructure. Tapuae Roa wasn't an economic development project in its own right, he said.
"It leads to projects being done however."
Vaughan questioned how many of those projects helped Stratford directly.
Mayor Neil Volzke said one example of a significant project aided by the work of Tapuae Roa was getting the funding for SH43 improvements.
"Some significant projects have also been floated where Stratford District has been suggested as a base for them."
Councillor Gloria Webby said listening to the discussion and doing some research previously had made her change her mind.
"I was originally hovering between options two and three, but reading some information from Local Government New Zealand and listening to Min, I now agree with her we need to be somewhere between options one and two. We have the options of rates postponement and remittance for those who need, so we are being sympathetic with ratepayers through that."
Councillor Jono Erwood also spoke in favour of option two.
"We can't afford to have only a little rates increase now and then a big one next year."
John Sandford was in favour of a point between options two and three.
"Whether it is 44 cents or a dollar, we have to show some empathy."
Peter Dalziel said while he agreed there was very little saving for individual ratepayers in the difference between some options, it was still important to make savings.
"We have the option to get more money from the farm. If we have to, we could look at some staff going to four days a week. We have a lot of options here and I think we could go with a 0 per cent increase."
He also suggested Council staff could look at all contracts they had with suppliers and renegotiate them.
Rick Coplestone said he didn't agree. Contracts wouldn't get cheaper he said, as people were likely to increase prices as they tried to recover from the financial hit their businesses would have taken recently.
"I can't see any sense in what Peter has said. Nothing is going to get cheaper."
Going for a 0 per cent increase, he said, was "bad economics".
Going with the original increase set out in the Long Term Plan would be a bad look however, he said.
"Option two we can wear though."
Deputy mayor Alan Jamieson said he felt an increase of just below 4 per cent was the best option.
"We need to be seen to be making a rates reduction. As a Council we need to be leading the charge."
Councillors didn't need to decide what should be cut to reach that point at the meeting he said.
"Things we can remove we can have a good look at later on. Let's come up with a figure and then get on with it."
Mayor Neil Volzke said he couldn't support an increase of 5.72 per cent in the current climate.
"While I agree with Councillor McKay that it doesn't make much difference, we do need to do the right thing for the people in our district who have lost jobs or suffered financially."
He felt an increase slightly below the 4.9 per cent suggested in option two would be the best outcome.
He asked for a councillor to put a suggestion forward to initiate a vote.
Grant Boyde proposed a 4.3 per cent increase.
Min McKay said she was happy with a reduction but only if the cuts made were things which Council could absorb immediately, not defer the cost to a later year.
Alan Jamieson said the reduction wasn't enough, it needed to be under 4 per cent.
Peter Dalziel also wanted a larger reduction in the increase.
The vote was carried with all but Min McKay, Alan Jamieson and Peter Dalziel voting in favour.
The Annual Plan containing the proposed rates increase of 4.3 per cent will now go out to the community for feedback.
Disclosure: Editor Ilona Hanne is married to the CEO of Stratford District Council.