Have your say on the council’s plan for the future
Today [6 August 2024] Ōpōtiki District Council adopted its Long Term Plan 2024-2034 Consultation Document ready for the community to add their feedback from 7 August until 4 September.
Ōpōtiki Mayor, David Moore, said that it was a good opportunity for all Ōpōtiki residents to provide input into the district’s future.
“Your councillors and I have been working on this document for many months and it reflects various thoughtful voices around the council table.
“We absolutely know how tight things are out there and the current cost of living is biting very hard. We know that any rate rise is unpalatable for our community, and we have worked incredibly hard to keep this rates rise as low as possible – deferring and delaying any costs possible and stripping back to the barest essentials. It is simply costing us so much more just to keep the lights and its a challenge faced by councils up and down the country.
“We are bringing to the community our plans to save even more – making do with what we have, delaying payments for harbour operations, and reducing services across many different parts of the organisation: engineering, parks and reserves, events, and regional development.
“This is the opportunity for individuals, organisations and businesses to have a chance to comment on what Council will deliver, and how it will deliver it, for the next 10 years,” Mayor Moore said.
In addition to the three key issues, the LTP Consultation Document also has information on how rates, debt and levels of service may be impacted, including a proposed average rates rise in Year 1 of 10.2% (Year 2 10.7%, Year 3 19.3%, and then subsequent years around 6.8%).
At the same time, council is re-consulting on the Revenue and Financing Policy to ensure it aligns with the LTP and other changes to three waters legislation.
The Mayor also explained the lateness of the LTP and the flow-on impacts of that.
“It is, of course, much later than usual as we elected to delay our LTP to give us more time to get our water infrastructure back on the books. You might remember the move to Three Waters entities but that process reversed with new central government legislation. It means we needed time to re-do all our financial and non-financial planning.
“One of the biggest impacts of that is that we won’t be able to send out rates assessments and invoices until we have adopted a final LTP – all the way out in November. People might have seen a bit in the paper about that and hopefully by now most people will have received their letters and emails.
“People are taking this seriously and it is great to hear how many people are coming in to set up direct debits or other payments. It means they can spread those costs over a whole year and reduce the impact of that late invoice in November,” Mayor Moore said.
Further information about the LTP, the consultation document and supporting documents are available on the Council's website and feedback can be submitted directly through Connect | Hono Mai. Submissions can also be made via email or physical / written feedback.
Submissions close on Wednesday 4 September and there will be hearings in mid-September for those that want to speak to speak to their submissions. Council will consider all submissions, changes will be made as required, and the final Long-Term Plan will be adopted on 30 October 2024.
