The Whakatāne District Council is seeking community input into the development of its Annual Plan for the 2016/17 financial year. A consultation document outlining key updates and changes from last year’s 2015-25 Long Term Plan (LTP) will be available on the Council’s website later today (Monday) and will also be published in the Bay Weekend free-delivery newspaper later this week.

A targeted information resource will also be posted or hand-delivered to ratepayers served by the Plains Water Scheme, providing information about proposed projects to upgrade water supplies to Edgecumbe and Te Teko residents and a plan to install water meters on all Edgecumbe connections.

Mayor Tony Bonne says the Council’s planned activities and budgets are largely in-line with those set out in last year’s LTP, but because the capital cost of the proposed Plains water upgrade had increased, the need for formal community consultation had been triggered.

"Pleasingly, the average rates increase of 3.2 percent across the District is lower than the 3.84 percent increase forecast in the LTP,” he says. “Actual changes in rates costs will differ, depending on the projects and activities planned in various parts of the District. Indicative costs for various communities are set out in the consultation document and Council elected members would welcome any feedback, both on the proposed rates and the other key elements discussed."

Also open for consultation is a review of fees and charges and a review of the District’s gambling policy. The former proposes changes to resource consent fees to provide greater consistency and fairness. This would see some variable fees replaced with fixed fees, providing greater certainty for applicants about resource consent costs.

The gambling policy regulates the number and location of ‘pokie’ machines in the District, with a view to controlling the social impacts of gambling. The only significant change proposed to the existing policy is to introduce a relocation clause, for venues wishing to change location. The proposed cap on the number of pokies is retained at 141. Because there are currently 181 machines in the District, this effectively means that no applications for new machines would be considered until the number of pokies falls below 141.

Submissions on the annual plan, the fees and charges review and the gambling policy review will close at 5.00pm on Friday 22 April. Anyone wishing to have their say is invited to make a formal written submission, pass their views on to a Council elected member, post a comment on the Council’s website, YouTube channel or Facebook page.

Further information is available on our 'Have your say' page.