Waipā District Council navigates tough year, focuses on future plans

Ōhaupō safety improvements.

Tough times call for tough decisions, and despite navigating almost constant change and uncertainty, Waipā District Council said it had emerged from a tough year with “a firm focus” on the future.

As the council adopted its 2023-2024 Annual Report last week, Waipā Mayor Susan O’Regan said the best word to describe the previous 12 months was “challenging”, with even more difficult decisions ahead.

“Like most other councils, we faced financial challenges with interest costs, high inflation, depreciation, and the cost to deliver services skyrocketing.

“The change in tack from central government for water services delivery was a game-changer, given our rising level of debt,” O’Regan said.

“It was a year that certainly posed its fair share of uncertainty, not only for us as a council but for our communities as well.”

The financial headwinds saw the council make some tough calls, she said.

“These included putting some major community projects on hold, and making significant cuts to discretionary funding.”

However, despite the challenges, close to $130 million of capital work was delivered via 160 projects across five programmes.

These included safety improvements and a signalised crossing in Ōhaupō, and an upgrade to Te Awamutu’s Walton St.

Cambridge saw the completion of a suite of urban projects on Hamilton Rd, including new shared walking and cycling paths and raised pedestrian crossings.

The historic Victoria St Bridge had a glow-up, with maintenance and repainting completed without disrupting traffic, and a new toilet block and carparks were built at the Leamington Cemetery.

Even with the tricky financial climate, the council has maintained its AA-stable outlook from international credit rating agency Fitch for the seventh year in a row.

“This is a nod to our financial prudence, and allows the council to access lower interest rates,” O’Regan said.

Another encouraging sign was the higher satisfaction scores received in the annual residents’ perception survey, including satisfaction with services and facilities as well as value for money.

“These gradual improvements indicate our residents are slowly building trust in us again, which has been – and will continue to be – a core focus of mine as mayor.”

The council’s attention is now firmly on delivering its 2025-34 Long-Term Plan, striving to keep rates as affordable as possible while continuing to deliver high levels of service.

Management of debt will be a big feature of the ongoing financial strategy.

Alongside this is the need to decide how water services will be delivered in Waipā, and responding to ongoing legislative reform.

The council will continue to seek input from residents into its decision-making, and will strive to deliver on its vision of building connected communities.

How the rates were spent

Of the $81m collected from rates in the 2023-24 year (which was 47% of the council’s total revenue), water services were the biggest ticket item. The wastewater, stormwater and water activities accounted for 36%, or $29m, of those rates.

Just over a third (34% or $27.5m) was spent on community services and facilities including maintaining parks, reserves, playgrounds, libraries, halls and cemeteries.

Roads and footpaths accounted for 17%, or nearly $14m.

Planning and regulatory costs accounted for 6%, while 8% went on governance, including strategy, communications and governance support staff.