Hawke's Bay Regional Council Chair defends proposed 19.6 percent rates rise, saying council focus is building flood protection resilience
Hawke's Bay Regional Council’s Chair Hinewai Ormsby has defended a proposed 19.6 percent rates rise, saying the Council’s focus is building flood protection resilience in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.
At an extraordinary Council meeting yesterday, the HBRC agreed to adopt a consultation document on a draft Three-Year Plan, that includes a proposed average rates rise of 19.6 percent for 2024-25.
The Council will now ask the community to have their say on the draft Three-Year Plan, opening for consultation on Monday 15 April.
The plan proposes an average rates increase of 19.6 percent for 2024-25, 18.1 percent in 2025-26 and nine percent in 2026-27.
In an interview with Hawke’s Bay App this morning, Ormsby admitted that the proposed average percentage increases over three years were “big numbers”.
“I reflect back months ago, October last year, that our council engaged and started the process of what is the priority for the Hawke's Bay Regional Council going forward given that we're in recovery and our focus is around building resilience, particularly around our flood protection.”
“We have Category 2 work that we need to build new schemes and we'd already agreed with the government for a 250 million project and programme of works, which we've now set up a project management office within the council to get that Category 2 work done and get those communities back to a one.”
“So our share of that, the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's is 44 million. And I think that negotiation went very well, particularly for flood protection. And so that means that we've got a delivery period of around four years. Now, we are going to consult and ask our community around how we fund the 44 million split. So that is a very significant question that we ask our community on their feedback.”
Ormsby said the process to identify what activities and levels of service should the regional council provide for our region and our communities going forward had been “very robust”
She said that a big focus is increasing flood resilience.
“They are to bolster our civil defence in Hawke's Bay emergency management. And then we looked at what things can we slow for the next three years knowing that we are going to have to increase them year four. And so that identified activities such as regional parks, cycleways, especially our tracks and also Hawke's Bay tourism, which is we know is contentious every three years around funding for the tourism industry.”
“I'm very pleased and proud of my councillors as well as our staff through that process.”
Ormsby said the process had been transparent.
“We mustn't forget that we are carrying loan funding from COVID. You'll remember that one annual plan, the council decided for a 0% increase and so we are still carrying that burden today as well as other recovery costs. So in year one, yes there is a significant increase there, but across the board when I look at regional councils across the country, all of these are in the 20s, some high 20s and we've had that pressure of recovery.”
“I think we've struck at a balanced position to not cut the most crucial services, as well as increasing that flood protection and that work we need to do for our Category 2 areas.”
Asked to comment on an assertion at the meeting by Councillor Neil Kirton that Councillors needed to look at what they could have done previously to rein in expenditure, Ormsby said that she was there last term.
“I recall the process we went through and we have many opportunities as councillors in the work shopping to voice your concerns. So there's been plenty of opportunity for that to happen and to leave those comments to the last minute of the council meeting has probably not done justice for the participation that you've had for months. So that's what I'll say about that.”
She says that the key was to hear from the community.
“We have a month's worth of engagement to hear those voices. We have hearings before we make a final decision. Those numbers might move slightly based on hearing what people have to say around the cuts or the increases. And essentially, that's what this process will do.”
Supporting documents presented to Council yesterday say that the main drivers for pushing rates up are continuing cyclone recovery costs; repayment of money borrowed in the past for operational matters; lower than expected income from investments, insurance premiums and inflation increases; and increasing costs to provide public transport.
Consultation will run from Monday 15 April to Wednesday 15 May.
From Monday 15 April, you can read the consultation document, find out about drop-in sessions and make a submission at hbrc.govt.nz, search #haveyoursay.
Watch the accompanying video to see the full interview with Hinewai Ormsby
