It is not too late to make public submissions on the Otago Regional Council's Long Term Plan and further input is welcome, council chairman Stephen Woodhead says.
The Long Term Plan (LTP) outlines the council's work programme for the next decade and how the council intends to fund its activities.
Submissions close at 5pm today and Mr Woodhead said it was ''critical'' that ratepayers and residents were involved in the decision making process.
The work proposed in the plan was based on four key themes: water, biodiversity, land protection, and air. More information on the plan was available at www.orc.govt.nz. More than 60 submissions had been received and anyone could make a submission, including online or by email.
Mr Woodhead said the council planned to increase monitoring and compliance activity to action new rules in the Otago Water Plan. These rules aimed to maintain good water quality, or improve it where it was poor.
In the first year of the plan, a 5.2% increase in the general rate and two new targeted rates were proposed.
One of those proposed rates would help fund additional water quality monitoring, and new science and technology work. The other would fund the council's programme of monitoring dairy farms to ensure they were complying with ORC permitted activity rules.
Submitters can also speak at hearings scheduled for the week starting May 11. After submissions had been considered, the council aimed to adopt the LTP on June 24, he said.
