The Central Otago District Council (CODC) will follow other Otago councils and delay its long-term plan for a year.
CODC organisational project manager Christina Martin presented a report to last week’s council meeting, which included an annual plan for the coming year and a nine-year LTP (2025-34) instead of the usual 10.
The annual plan option was offered to councils by the government in recent weeks following the repeal of Three Waters legislation to give councils more time to include budgeting for the Three Waters — drinking, wastewater and stormwater — into their LTPs.
Ms Martin said in her report with current staffing resources the CODC could not achieve an LTP by the end of June.
Cr Tracey Paterson asked if the Audit New Zealand process would be hindered by the proposed changes.
There must be an audit both during the process and of the final document.
Ms Martin’s report said it was an ongoing challenge for councils to align with Audit New Zealand and still meet legislative deadlines.
CODC group manager support Saskia Righarts said a year’s delay would benefit the council as there would be no audit required for an annual plan. Some councils were going ahead with their LTPs this year, so Audit New Zealand would have a lighter workload next year and less time pressure.
Mayor Tim Cadogan said there might be an additional benefit to delaying the LTP.
"Maybe in years to come we might look back on this as the beginning of the government recognising that annual audits are probably a colossal waste of time and money for some councils."
Cr Tamah Alley said the changes to Three Waters legislation had put increased pressure on the council’s finance team.
"It’s not that we’re not keeping up or not doing what we should be doing, it’s that in a very short time we have had to take [Three Waters] out and put it back in."
