Council Elected Members will meet this Wednesday, 14 June to make their final decision on the proposed Annual Plan 2023/24. The Annual Plan sets Council’s budget and programme of work for the coming year.
Earlier this year at its 30 March meeting, Council decided by a fine margin to adopt a draft Annual Plan which set out a 6.92 per cent average rates increase originally agreed through its Long Term Plan (LTP). This required Council to borrow $29.9 million more than compared with the LTP, and reprioritise some planned infrastructure projects.
The original staff recommendation of a 9.5 percent average rates increase would have required around $28.4 million borrowing and some reprioritisation of capital works. The recommendation reflected the importance of balancing affordability now with the impacts of delaying costs for the future.
Council Elected Members recognise that a lot has changed since the adoption of the LTP in July 2021 including 30-year record inflationary cost increases, interest rate rises, and the uncertainty created by central government reforms.
The Annual Plan development has required staff to review the timing of some capital projects, and the reprioritisation of others. Some new and unforeseen items have been included such as responding to the impacts of storm damage, and meeting legislative targets set by central government.
Wednesday's meeting will also see the adoption of the Rates Resolution for the 12 months dated from 1 July 2023. The rates resolution sets the exact charges to be levied for general rates, the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC) which applies to rateable properties throughout the District, and the various targeted rates applying to services such as roading, stormwater, sewerage, water supplies and waste removal.
Whakatāne District Council CFO and GM Business Partnering, Gary Connolly says revaluations were also undertaken in 2022 and come into effect for the 2023/24 financial year. “The last round of revaluations has seen a significant variation in the value of properties around the District.
“It’s important to note revaluations don’t change the total amount of rates that are collected, just how they are divided up amongst ratepayers,” he explains. “If your property value increases proportionally more than others, it means you’ll pay proportionally more rates.
“An increase in your property’s valuation doesn’t mean you’ll have the same increase in your rates. For example, if your property valuation goes up by 53 per cent (which is the average across residential Whakatāne), it doesn’t mean your rates will follow suit - it simply helps us work out everyone’s share of rates.”
The final Annual Plan documents will be made available within the month on Council’s website or can be viewed at Council service centres.