Council adopted its Long Term Plan 2015-25 (LTP) on Tuesday 23 June. This followed a significant audit process that took a detailed look into all the aspects of Council policies, financial strategy, asset management plans and Consultation Document (CD).

Public consultation took place from 1 April to Friday, 1 May 2015. During this period Elected Members attended existing community meetings in Te Kuiti, Piopio, Mokau and Benneydale to discuss the proposals in the CD.

SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED

A total of 33 submissions covering 78 topics were received. A variety of topics were covered in submissions, some related to the proposals for the LTP and others not.

Overall there was support for Council's focus on Economic Development and some respondents also provided some feedback in relation to opportunities that they felt the Council should consider.

Twelve submissions were presented in person at the Council hearings on 11 May.

The Revenue and Financing Policy (RFP) and the Policy on Remission of Rates were publicly consulted on, in a manner which gave effect to section 82 and 82A of the LGA.

No submissions were received in relation to this separate process although some people raised matters in their submission which related to the RFP. 

OUTCOME OF PUBLIC FEEDBACK

As a result of the feedback received from the community during the consultation process, Council resolved to confirm its' preferred options raised in the Consultation Document.

• Continuing with a focus on economic development in a staged but steady manner and in house delivery of economic development initiatives.
• Changes to the funding splits between Uniform Annual Charge (UAGC) and General Rate and limiting increases in value of the UAGC to Local Goverment Cost Index (LGCI) for that year.
• Continued focus on the debt reduction objective but not to levy an additional new rate for this purpose.

Council also considered and agreed that there remains a high level of uncertainty around the issues concerning Waitomo Village, Water and Wastewater infrastructure and the timing of any change. Therefore it is not possible for Council to include any specific financial provision for these assets in the financial forecasting for the next 10 years.

However, Council is committed to working through the issues with the stakeholders to reach a more definitive position. Although there is not a specific financial resource dedicated to this work stream in the LTP, Council will utilise its' internal resources for investigatory works.

Council recognises the value in liaising with Maori and will continue to proactively liaise at Regional Management Committee level.

Council will also include Iwi Liaison in its forward work programme consideration of how to continue Iwi liaison in the future, with a view to enhancing it.

TOTAL RATES 2015/16 AND BEYOND

The total rates requirement for the LTP is shown in the following table.

WDC’s Long Term Plan was audited by Office of the Auditor General (OAG) and received an audit opinion.