Rates rises on the table for Ōpōtiki district

Ōpōtiki District Council has released their 2023-24 Annual Plan Information Document – Our Plan in Action. The community will have an opportunity to provide their thoughts and feedback on the document in the coming weeks before it is adopted in June.

This year is year three in the council’s Long Term Plan and there are no significant or material changes between the adopted Long Term Plan (2021-2031), and the proposed 2023/24 Annual Plan. However, the budget shows that the funding to do that work will need to increase by approximately 14% in the district.

Ōpōtiki Mayor, David Moore, said that there were many factors driving the increases, including inflationary pressures being felt globally.

“Affordability is absolutely at the front of all our decisions and we have worked very hard to keep this as low as possible for our communities. But we’re not immune to the impacts of inflation, and it is costing just so much more to do the same amount of work. Pipes costs most, materials and resources cost more.

“We also see increased costs of compliance with national legislation and increased costs in areas like managing our waste and recycling. Information technology, data and software licensing costs are also much higher. There are also some more positive reasons, such as the record numbers of building consents being processed by the team, so that illustrates growth and positive change for the district, but we need to resource that effectively. There is a really useful graphic in the information document illustrating how these are all contributing to our rates rise,” Mayor Moore said.

The Mayor also said that there was another factor that had been discussed at length around the council table. He said that the situation wasn’t a surprise for most councillors and that they had “reached the end of the road and we can’t kick the can any further.”

“Over many years, we have used all the levers available to us to keep rates low for our communities. And they ARE low when compared with other councils. We have some of the lowest rates in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and in the whole country. Which means in real terms, our larger percent increase will often be less than a smaller percent in an area with higher rates.

“To keep rates as low as possible, successive councils have already used the tools available that some councils are able to use now - reduced depreciation, loan funding, external funding and so on. We have no assets to call on or shares to sell. So we haven’t had the benefit of a gradual ramping up of costs over many years – this is all hitting pretty hard, pretty quickly,” Mayor Moore said.

The council’s Information Document outlines examples of cost increases for those in different areas and with different valued homes. The community is invited to provide feedback on the document online, via email, by post and also drop off physical copies at council offices.

Drop-in sessions will also be held where the community can meet with councillors and staff and share their feedback kanohi ki te kanohi. Currently sessions (more may be scheduled):

• 2pm, Tuesday 9 May 2023 – Te Kaha Beach Resort
• 1pm, Monday 15 May 2023, Council Chambers
• 12.30pm Tuesday 16 May 2023 Council Chamber