CODC organisational project manager Christina Martin presented a report at last week’s council meeting including an annual plan for the coming year and a nine-year LTP (2025-2034) 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, waste and sewerage — into their LTPs.
With current staffing resources, the CODC could not achieve a LTP by the end of June, Ms Martin said in her report.
Councillor Tracey Paterson asked if the Audit New Zealand process would be disturbed by the proposed changes.
An LTP must be audited both during the process and 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 LTP this year so Audit New Zealand would have a lighter workload next year and therefore less time pressure.
Mayor Tim Cadogan said there might bean 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."
Councillor 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."
Mr Cadogan said it was compounded by the continued lack of clarity over what it meant in the latest iteration.
Dr Righarts said they would come back to the March 20 meeting with details of the annual plan.
