Submissions on the plan, which proposes a 1% average rate increase for 2015-16 and a 2.6% average rate increase for 2015-25, will be heard in Queenstown on Monday and in Wanaka the following day.
Other topics prominent among the 550 submissions are a visitor levy for funding major projects, increased parking restrictions and charges in central Queenstown, a library hub in Frankton and standardised rating for the district's water and wastewater systems.
Although central Queenstown businesses face substantial rates increases to pay for a convention centre at Lakeview, their submissions reflect general support for the rating model.
Many follow the lead of the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce, whose support for the centre comes with the proviso that it delivers the economic benefits predicted by two council-funded studies.
In the the chamber's submission, CEO Ann Lockhart said building the centre at Lakeview would be a ''50-year-plus investment in both the business and wider communities'' but the council had to find alternative sources of funding.
A visitor levy would partly offset rates and finance other projects that were ''otherwise unaffordable because of the district's low ratepayer base''.
Long-term projects in the council's draft transport strategy, such as the Man St bypass, needed to be brought forward, Ms Lockhart said.
''These projects are critical to future traffic flows within the town centre and expansion of a more pedestrian-friendly CBD.''
In a submission for Downtown QT, chairman Alastair Wood said the alliance of CBD business operators was ''neutral'' about the rating model for the convention centre.
Although the rates costs were reasonable ''when the benefits are factored into the equation'', it wanted the council to investigate a visitor levy to offset those costs.
A submission by Remarkables Park Ltd CEO Alastair Porter said the long-term plan reflected a ''glaring incompatibility'' between the council's goal of reducing traffic congestion in central Queenstown and its convention centre and town centre expansion projects.
Mr Porter, who is advancing plans for a rival convention centre in Frankton, said the plan did not account for the ''full cost of mitigating anticipated traffic impacts'' from those projects.
