Long-term Plan Deliberations Day 3
Deliberations on Rotorua Lakes Council’s 2024-2034 Long-term Plan wrapped up today with confirmation of decisions made and the financial impact of these.
Mayor Tania Tapsell noted that the 1500 submissions and pieces of feedback that were received during consultation were a significant help for elected members in making their final decisions.
Deliberations were held last Thursday and Friday with the final wrap-up today. The Long-term Plan will now be prepared for formal adoption by Council on 26 June. It will set out what Council will deliver across the next 10 years and how that will be funded.
Following adoption of the Long-term Plan the rates will be struck for Year 1, the 2024/25 financial year.
The average general rates increase for Year 1 will be 11.42%, up from 10.25% which was based on what was consulted on. The increase is due to the impact of some changes that were made during deliberations, taking community feedback into consideration.
Projected general rates increases across subsequent years of the Long-term Plan do not differ greatly from what was consulted on.
Decisions made during deliberations, following consultation and hearings, were as follows:
Community outcomes
9 outcomes adopted as per consultation
- Active: Accessibility of our lakes, forests, open space networks and the quality of our facilities create opportunities for everyone to be active throughout their lives.
- Safety: Our communities, businesses and visitors feel safe across our district.
- Tangata whenua aspirations: We recognise and support the aspirations of tangata whenua and mana whenua and partner to grow economic and social opportunities and benefits for everyone.
- Housing: All residents have access to a range of housing options that ensures they can live in quality homes that are safe and healthy.
- Employment and economy: We enable businesses to grow with confidence through increasing investment opportunities. There are employment opportunities across a range of sectors.
- Tourism: We are a world class destination with a vibrant inner city and a positive reputation.
- Environment: We are committed to protecting and improving our lakes and waterways and our forest and green space environments.
- Connected and resilient: Our communities are cohesive and prepared for the effects of climate change and natural hazards and we invest in safe and reliable infrastructure.
- Arts and culture: Rotorua’s unique cultural identity is the foundation for attracting and delivering a diverse range of multi-cultural events, increasing activity and vibrancy and driving economic benefits within our facilities and for our district.
East Rotoiti/Rotomā sewerage scheme
- Introduce capital repayment for the scheme from 1 July 2024.
- RLC subsidy of $2700 per household (increasing from $1500).
- $10m loan from Ministry for the Environment – repaid via Lakes Enhancement rate paid by all Rotorua ratepayers (excluding properties in the Waikato region), an increase of $37 per ratepayer per year.
- Additional $4.5m project costs to be spread across the wider Rotorua district and recovered via the sewerage target rate, an increase of $15.50 per ratepayer per year).
- Projected residents’ share per property = $19,553 (GST excl) or $22,486 (GST incl).
Short-term accommodation
- Business and economic development targeted rate to be applied to short-term accommodation providers advertising for more than 60 days per year.
- General rate remains ‘residential’.
- New rating applies only to whole dwellings.
- Single rooms, granny flats, sleepouts excluded.
Inner city skatepark
- $650,000 approved for Year 3 of the Long-term Plan towards the construction of an inner city skate park.
- The funding is subject to community fundraising of the remaining $1.8m towards the total cost of the skate park.
RotoruaNZ funding
- Inflationary adjustment in funding from RLC of $200,000 per year.
- $450,000 support from RLC per year for delivery for campaigns to promote Rotorua and rebuild its reputation.
Inner city revitalisation
- $60,000 per year (across the 10 years of the Long-term Plan) for renewals.
- $3.3m in each of years 4, 5 and 6 of the Long-term Plan for implementation of an inner city masterplan to be developed in the meantime.
Aquatic Centre
- $200,000 in Year 1 of the Long-term Plan to undertake preliminary design for a revised scope and to explore partnership and other funding options, and consult with the community.
- Council CE to negotiate with the Department of Internal Affairs to allow redirection of $2.5m of Be Better Off Funding [which was tagged to the Aquatic Centre] towards a wastewater or core infrastructure project/s.
- Should no agreement to transfer the Be Better off Funding be concluded by 30 September 2024, Council approves $2.8m towards the preferred revised scope for the Aquatic Centre in Year 2 of the long-term Plan.
Pensioner housing
- Council to explore options to enter into long term lease arrangement(s) with suitable community housing providers and present options back to Council.
- Rotorua lakes Council will retain ownership. The potential is for pensioner housing to become financially sustainable and provide opportunities to grow the portfolio.
Community funding
- Total funding allocation of $295,000 per year, as consulted on, with $195,000 per year for Partnership Agreements and $100,000 per year for Neighbourhood Matching Fund grants.
- Small grants fund ($1000 to $5000) will no longer be available.
Community boards – devolved funding allocation
Retain devolved funding allocation of $125,000 per year for each community board (Rural and Lakes).
Tarawera sewerage scheme
- RLC subsidy of $2,700 per property
- Council staff to continue to seek additional funding for the scheme from Central Government and Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
Lakes infrastructure enhancements
- As per consultation, no funding set aside for lakes infrastructure enhancements, allowing time to see lakes return to more normal levels and /or assess what a ‘new normal’ might look like. This provides time to re-assess what’s required and allow Council to decide on any investment in the next Long-term Plan.
- This decision does not impact on repairs, maintenance and renewals of existing infrastructure which is budgeted for.
Transportation infrastructure
Work added back in to Long-term Plan, most deferred to Year 4, after consulting on not proceeding with this programme of works.
- Rural street improvements – $140,000 per year from Year 4.
- Urban street improvements– $210,000 per year from Year 4.
- Maori roadlines and unformed roads– $120,000 per year from Year 1.
- Rural seal improvements – $630,000 per year from Year 1.
- Walking and cycling improvements– $820,000 per year from Year 4 (anticipating $353,000 to be funded by RLC and approximately $467,000 by NZTA) .
Rating of vacant land
Decision to retain 50% remission on services (water, waste collection and sewage collection) where these are available.
Rates impact on rating groups
The decisions made, as outlined above, see average rates increases for Year 1 of the Long-term Plan (Year 1 is the 2024/25 financial year which starts 1 July 2024) increase across the four main rating groups, compared to what was consulted on.
- The average increase for the business rating group will be 11.72% (up from 11.10% consulted on).
- The average increase for farming increases will be 9.17% (up from 8.42% consulted on).
- The average increase for residential rural will be 9.58% (up from 8.24% consulted on).
- The average increase for residential urban will be 11.94% (up from 10.46 consulted on).
Important note regarding revaluations: Revaluations have only recently been confirmed and have not been applied to the above rates increases that have been modelled for the Long-term Plan. Revaluations have also not been applied to the rates calculator that was made available on Council’s website as part of Long-term Plan consultation.
The rating information database will be updated with the revaluations once the rates for Year 1 of the Long-term Plan have been struck – this is expected to happen on 26 June after Council adopts the finalised Long-term Plan.
Today’s meeting was livestreamed and you can watch the recording at the following link on Council’s YouTube channel: Rotorua Lakes Council Meeting - Long-term Plan 2024-2034 Deliberations - 10 June 2024 (youtube.com)
See coverage of deliberations, days 1 and 2, at the following links: