An overall 7.41% increase in the rates take for 2012-13 is proposed by the Waitaki District Council in its draft 2012-22 long term plan.
Yesterday's extraordinary council meeting was the first time the draft 2012-22 plan had been publicly debated. There are three further steps to come before the council approves a draft on April 3 to go out for public submissions.
Submissions will close on May 11 and be heard and considered before the council finally adopts the plan on June 26.
This financial year the council is collecting $25.55 million in total rates. This figure will rise to $27.44 million next financial year.
One of the most contentious issues in the draft plan is likely to be a proposal to close the Severn and lower Thames Sts toilets. The last time closing public toilets to save money was on the agenda, it dominated submissions.
At the start of yesterday's meeting, chief executive Michael Ross delivered what he described as an "unpalatable message" about expecting an increase higher than the level of inflation, which meant setting rates in the coming financial year would be "a real challenge".
Before the council even started looking at new projects, it faced a 4.89% increase because of costs beyond its control.
These included a reduction in roading subsidy by the New Zealand Transport Agency, a $381,000 increase in insurance costs, a reduction in investment income because of lower interest rates and upgrading water schemes to meet Government drinking water standards.
As a result, the 2012-13 financial year was not like previous years. Over the last three years, the council had already cut the level of service to reduce rates, but even that had resulted in deficits over that period, he said.
Some decisions made yesterday included:
• Spending $273,000 in the Oamaru Harbour-foreshore area from a mixture of loans and rates;
• $125,000 from rates in 2012-13 for the development and maintenance of the Alps 2 Ocean cycle trail and buying shares;
• $800,000 funded by a loan for erosion protection of the Oamaru foreshore;Reducing the district council's staff training budget;
• $50,000 to start the North Otago Museum-archive-Forrester Gallery-Oamaru Library project;
• Contributing $25,000 plus fit-out costs to a North Otago Search and Rescue mobile unit to be used by the council as the mobile emergency operations centre;
• $50,000 from rates to support work on earthquake-prone public buildings;Carrying out economic development within the council rather than the Waitaki Development Board, saving $85,000;
• $145,000 for community housing improvements and renewals from depreciation and rates;
• Establishing a $50,000 contestable fund for economic development;
• Retaining a separate budget for training volunteers (such as rural fire and civil defence);
• Increasing rentals for Waitaki District Council community housing, equating to $5 to $8 a week;
• Increasing by almost $6000 the council's contribution to the Waitaki Recreation Centre;
