Video: Large rates rises intimidating for local government sector, says Central Hawke's Bay Mayor
The large rates rises facing councils are intimidating to the local government sector, says Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker.
Walker was speaking after her council, the Central Hawke's Bay District Council (CHBDC), opened for public consultation a proposed preferred average rates increase of 20 percent for this year.
Walker said the proposed increase was “a huge number”.
“And it's quite intimidating, not just for us, but for the whole local government sector.”
“The reality of us working through the nuts and bolts of what that means from a Central Hawke's Bay district perspective, started back in November last year, as we've been trying to carve this down to what is practical.”
Walker told Hawke’s Bay App that this “is not a long-term plan, this is not a fully costed, this is what life is going to look like over two years, because the cyclone has thrown us so many curve balls, that actually a lot of our investment profiles still carry quite a lot of uncertainty”.
She says this is “truly” just a three-year plan.
At an extraordinary Council meeting earlier this the CHBDC agreed to send a consultation document of its draft Three-Year Plan 2024-27 out for public feedback.
The document contains three options.The preferred Central Option proposes a 20 percent increase for 2024/25, 15.6 percent for the second year, and 10.9 percent for 2026/27. Read more about the options facing Central Hawke's Bay ratepayers here.
“The central option is very focused on what do we need to do to get the right recovery activities done now," says Walker.
“Where are those priorities? So the central option is focused on getting roading and land transport, right. And it is focused on getting stormwater repairs and resilience work, post the cyclone, right. And focusing our other core activities, just back to the basics of what it means to be able to just keep moving forward.”
“At a 20% increase, it's very focused on those key areas. But it is actually, we are paying a lot more, but we are going to have to consider cuts to actual services. Within that 20% increase, we have already taken one and a half million dollars of operational savings out of the business, changed a whole lot of direction around how staffing and operational costs happen.”
Walker said that the Council had already given direction to close two transfer stations, Tekapo and Waipawa.
“And we're also looking at rationalising opening hours of our other public community services like our libraries. Those are a little bit more fluid. We've got a few more options, and certainly in the consultation, the feedback people can give to us on how they are using those services.”
Walker said that the Council would be looking at opportunities to reduce costs and increase revenue potential.
“We've got currently 8,000 rate payer units. It means that everything we do, we have to look innovatively for where's another income stream. Central Hawke's Bay District Council doesn't hold any productive assets. We don't have shareholdings in ports or airports.”
“We don't have land that we can go and develop and put additional housing on. We don't have any additional income producing assets. But what we have been quite successful in, in the last few years, has been the attraction of external funding.”
Walker said the Council would be looking for more opportunities to collaborate with Central Government as well as the other Hawke’s Bay councils.
“We’re also interested in how we continue to move forward our Hawke's Bay collaborative approach around three waters investment and delivery. The most important possible transformative change that could happen for our council and community, is actually around that regional work.”
To help inform feedback, the Council says residents can read the Consultation Document and make a submission by visiting www.letstalkchb.co.nz or the Council website: www.chbdc.govt.nz.
Hard copies are also available at Waipawa Library, Te Huinga Wai – The Knowledge and Learning Hub in Waipukurau and Council offices in Waipawa. Feedback is open until 11.59 pm on Sunday 12 May 2024.
Watch the accompanying video to see the full interview with Alex Walker.
