The Clutha District Council adopted its annual plan on Thursday and confirmed a rates rise of 3.02%, down from the 3.25% proposed initially, as a result of some changes to the draft annual plan.
Council communications co-ordinator Jamie Shaw said 152 of the 192 submissions to the plan supported a proposal to seal the access road and car park at the Cross Recreation Centre in Balclutha.
The centre opened in 2011. Its unsealed access road and car park have been the subject of complaints, so the centre's management committee asked the council to consider sealing those areas.
After considering submissions, councillors agreed that the road and car park needed to be sealed, Mr Shaw said.
A budget of $140,000 has now been included in the annual plan for the sealing and a further $60,000 will be allowed in the 2017-18 year for a second-coat seal.
The sealing would mean an increase in the Cross Recreation Centre rate of between 24c and $2.36 a year for each ratepayer, depending on which ward people lived in, from the 2015-16 financial year onwards, Mr Shaw said.
Another change to the plan was the $1.35 million grant for the Tuapeka Aquatic Centre carried forward to the 2014-15 year, which meant the rating impact for the project would not begin until the following year.
A grant of $40,000 to the Kaitangata Skate Park Development Committee would be paid when the balance of the funds for the park had been raised or secured, Mr Shaw said. The grant would be partly funded by a rates increase of $9 to $12 over the next three years for Kaitangata ratepayers, depending on the land value of their property.
A motor home dumping station in Balclutha costing $20,000 will be funded from reserves and in a location to be determined after talks with the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association.
The council will also spend $6500 to upgrade the existing dumping station at Lawrence. The council approved a one-off grant of $2400 for half the cost of a feasibility study for the Waihola Destination Playground Development, a project being led by a charitable trust.
Rating changes for each ward depended on the services received and projects planned in each area, along with the land and capital value of properties.
Almost half the rates collected, 46%, is spent on roading, with water services (17.7%) and community services (12.7%) the other two largest spends.
