Dunedin ratepayers are facing a 6.7% rates rise in the next financial year, and some significant fee increases, as the city heads towards a 69% jump in the next 10 years.
[comment option=Do you think that a 6.7% rates rise is justifiable?]The Dunedin City Council will sit next week to consider its annual plan, amid public criticism of spending and debt levels.
Council managers said this week those levels would push the council to the edge of its financial limits, but they maintained the situation could be managed.
No matter what decisions the council makes, more than half of the increase is inevitable, as 36.4% of the 10-year projected rates rise is due to inflation alone.
Without the Otago Stadium, the rate increase would be 4.6% in the next financial year.
The bulk of the increase was core business, council chief executive Jim Harland said this week.
The city's finances, and projects - big and small - will be picked through by city councillors when they sit for three days from next Wednesday to consider what to leave in and what to leave out of the annual plan.
The council is also required under the Local Government Act to update its 10-year long-term council community plan, which was adopted in 2006, and has to be reviewed every three years.
The documents the council will consider include plans to increase resource consent fees by 65%, environmental health health fees of 35%, and building control fees by a "significant" amount.
The council's new borrowings are forecast at $232 million in the next three years, as planned building begins on the secondary wastewater treatment plant at Tahuna, the stadium, and the Dunedin Centre and Otago Settlers Museum redevelopments.
Mr Harland said staff had looked through every budget, trying to find savings where they could.
"When you look at it, what's really driving it [the rate increase] is water and wastewater."
Asked if he thought the increase was affordable to ratepayers, he said he did.
For those on fixed incomes, a significant amount could be claimed back through the rates rebate scheme.
Mr Harland said the council was taking a rigorous approach to planning, and was considering the possible needs of the city well into the future.
That meant collecting an increasing amount of knowledge about the city's assets, and the necessary depreciation costs.
"We're looking at the next 100 years.
"I don't think other councils are approaching this as rigorously as we are."
Asked whether there would be any cuts to core services, something stadium opponents had accused the council of, Mr Harland said his response had always been the same - there were none.
"You just need to look at the draft plan."
The plan included funding for wastewater pipes, the Tahuna secondary treatment plant, and an appropriate level of funding for roads, among other council activities.
In his report to the meeting, Mr Harland has presented the year's figures in a variety of ways, to help councillors make their decisions.
He has split new capital spending, for instance, into core essential spending, core discretionary, and discretionary.
The figures show discretionary spending at more than $200 million, compared with spending on core activities of $283 million.
Capital spending deemed core essential includes wastewater treatment - the Tahuna secondary water treatment plant - transportation operations, water and solid waste.
The treatment plant tops the spending at $62.6 million and the total is $176.8 million.
Core discretionary includes the Dunedin Centre upgrade, the Otago Settlers Museum redevelopment, and the harbourside redevelopment.
The Dunedin Centre tops the list at $43.6 million, and the total is $106.2 million.
Discretionary spending includes the stadium, the Dunedin Public Library redevelopment and building at the Botanic Garden.
The stadium tops that list at $127 million, and total discretionary spending is $217.8 million.
Mr Harland said councillors had some room to make changes to the plan in areas like roading, but "the bulk of it is core business".
