A Queenstown Lakes rates rise of 7.95% came close to not being adopted yesterday, when a council meeting in Wanaka almost failed to reach a quorum.
However, with eight minutes left before Mayor Clive Geddes would have been forced to cancel the meeting, Queenstown ward councillors Gillian Macleod and Vanessa van Uden arrived, joining Crs John R Wilson, of Arrowtown, Lex Perkins and Mel Gazzard, of Queenstown, and Lee Overton, of Wanaka.
If Cr Macleod and Cr van Uden had been delayed any longer - they had both given notice they were running late - there would have been too few councillors present to vote on whether to adopt the council's draft annual plan for the next financial year. Four other elected members had their apologies tabled.
Deputy mayor John S Wilson, of Wanaka, has leave of absence from council, while a prior apology from Cath Gilmour, of Queenstown, was tabled before the meeting.
Mr Geddes said two unexpected apologies had been tabled from Crs Lyal Cocks, of Wanaka, and John Mann, of Queenstown.
The pair are sitting as commissioners on a hearings panel which had run over time by a day and they were unable to make the council meeting, he told the Otago Daily Times.
"No-one realised we only had 10 minutes to have a quorum arrive before we would have had to cancel the meeting."
Mr Geddes said he was not concerned there were so few councillors present to vote on the draft annual plan, effectively a council budget outline for the next financial year.
Councillors and Queenstown Lakes District Council managers had participated in an "exhaustive series of jointly held workshops", during which the annual plan had been "thrashed out".
About six all-day workshops covering different aspects of financial governance and budgets for the various departments had taken place with managers and councillors, he said.
QLDC finance general manager Stewart Burns said the draft annual plan had been able to peg back a projected rates rise of 11.9% to the 7.95% average district-wide rates increase.
The council's 10-year plan, developed last year, projected an annual rise of 8.5%, he said.
Ms van Uden was the only councillor present who voted not to adopt the council's draft annual plan for 2010-11 The draft plan will be put out for public consultation until May 17, before scheduled hearings in Wanaka and Queenstown on June 3 and 4.
