District infrastructure focus of South Taranaki District Council long-term plan

South Taranaki District Council has committed to continuing town centre upgrades in Pātea and other towns in its area. Photo / Bevan Conley

A cash injection to the district’s roads and wastewater infrastructure, rural town centre upgrades and an increase to the rates subsidy are some of the key points of South Taranaki District Council’s long-term plan.

The plan, adopted at Monday’s extraordinary council meeting, received 235 submissions and a clean audit opinion during a month of public consultation.

South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon said the plan was about maintaining momentum while also doing what was needed to look after the district’s assets.

“In the feedback received, our residents have told us that they want to see better roads, our town amenities and gardens looking good and an improved dog control service. In response, over the next three years, we’re increasing our roading expenditure, have committed to continuing town centre upgrades in Hāwera, Manaia, Eltham, Ōpunakē, Pātea and Waverley, and have budgeted to increase resources in the animal control team.”

The plan comes with an average rate increase of 11.1% for 2024/25 and an average rate increase of 5.41% over the next 10 years.

Of the submissions received, 71% supported more money spent on roading, 82% supported an increased rates subsidy, 54% supported earthquake strengthening Eltham Town Hall to 67% of the New Building Standard and 79% supported increasing user fees and charges.

“The big challenge for us is how we afford to do this at a time when local government is facing unprecedented cost increases,” Nixon said.

Local government inflation had risen by about 20% over the past two years. Fuel, bitumen, electricity, construction and insurance costs had all increased considerably - in some cases, contractors’ costs had increased up to 60%.

Higher interest rates had increased the cost of borrowing and paying back debt and compliance costs driven by government requirements meant the council needed to spend a lot more on infrastructure.

“This means we need to pay more just to keep doing what we are already doing, without adding anything else,” he said.

Nixon said the council worked to find savings across all activities to keep the rates increase as low as possible, including reducing budgets for the Hāwera town revitalisation project, tourism and events, delaying some non-urgent capital projects works, increasing borrowing and the amount the council’s Long-Term Investment Fund subsidised rates each year by an additional $350,000.

“We know the rate increase will be hard for a lot of ratepayers. It’s higher than what we want and higher than we’ve had over the previous 10 years, but it reflects what it costs to simply maintain existing services while ensuring our critical infrastructure meets our community’s needs and government requirements.”

Maintaining assets was crucial so they did not cost more in the long-term.

“You don’t have to look hard to see places around the country where years of under-investment by councils has led to unacceptable infrastructure failures and we don’t want South Taranaki to be in that situation,” Nixon said.

“Councils are acutely aware they need to balance the need for investment with affordable increases, but the pressure has reached a tipping point and I think we need to have a national conversation about local government funding - including the value of the services councils provide to communities.”