From the Council meeting
Elected members have today decided to retain the status quo for the electoral system to be applied to the 2025 and 2028 local elections in Rotorua.
The Council voted in favour of retaining first past the post (FPP) rather than single transferable vote (STV).
Mayor Tania Tapsell supported first past the post, saying this was the system she believed the community understood, was familiar with, and which had seen good voter turnout.
The Local Electoral Act 2001 allows councils to make a decision on the electoral system they prefer two years before the next local election, or to hold a binding poll on the matter. Any such decision covers two elections, along with any associated by-elections, and also applies to election of community board members.
A change of electoral system can be achieved either by way of a local authority resolution or as the outcome of a poll of electors and a poll may either be demanded by electors or may be the result of a local authority resolution to hold one.
Any decision to change the electoral system for the 2025 and 2028 local elections or hold a poll had to be made no later than 12 September 2023.
As part of this matter, Council also needed to consider the order of candidate names, that is, whether they will be in alphabetical order, pseudo-random order or random order on voting papers. Council voted in favour of random ordering of candidate names.
See p19 of the meeting agenda to view the full report on this matter.
Go directly to this part of the recording of the livestreamed meeting
End-of-year financial update
Rotorua Lakes Council ended the 2022/23 financial year with a $94,000 operating surplus.
It was a challenging year impacted by increased costs due to weather events, high inflation, emergency housing and District Plan Change 9 which the council organisation responded to in various ways, including cancelling or deferring expenditure, holding staff vacancies and increasing revenue targets, Council heard today.
In November last year staff were forecasting a $5.6m deficit, resulting in cost-saving initiatives being implemented. This brought the forecast deficit down to $2.9m by January this year with further savings initiatives then reducing that further, to $1m, by March 2023. By May this year the organisation was forecast to be on budget for the financial year (the 12 months to the end of June 2023) and the year-end result was an unaudited surplus of $94,000.
Income for the year was $27.8m below what was budgeted ($191.6m), expenditure was $4.8m below a budget of $161.6m, capital spending was $49.7m below the budgeted $143.8m and net debt was $339.8m.
The results reported today are unaudited and there will be some adjustments, Council was told.
See page 13 of the meeting agenda to view the financial report for the 12 months ending 30 June 2023.
See the presentation relating to this matter at this link on Council’s website: PowerPoint Presentation (rotorualakescouncil.nz)
Go directly to this part of the meeting recording
Also on the agenda
- Operational updates from council’s Organisational Enablement group (finance, property, procurement, project management office, customer solutions). See page 26 of the meeting agenda to view this report. Go directly to this part of the meeting recording
- Operational updates from the District Leadership and Democracy group (corporate planning, governance, engagement, marketing, design and communications). See page32 of the meeting agenda to view this report. Go directly to this part of the meeting recording
- Operational updates from the Te Arawa Partnership Group which includes a note that the joint working party reviewing the council’s Partnership Agreement with Te Tatau o Te Arawa expects to report back to Council by the end of August. See p39 of the meeting agenda to view the full update from this group. Go directly to this part of the meeting recording
- Previously confidential items now being released. See page 41 of the meeting agenda to view these. Go directly to this part of the meeting recording
View the full agenda for today’s Council meeting here on Council’s website: public-agenda-council-meeting-25-july-2023.pdf (rotorualakescouncil.nz)
The meeting livestreamed and can be viewed via Council’s YouTube channel at this link: Rotorua Lakes Council Meeting - 25 July 2023 - YouTube