Whanganui District Council deliberates on annual plan; rates rise could be higher than first thought

An average Whanganui rates rise of 8.3 per cent is all but locked in following deliberations on the district council’s 2023/24 annual plan.

It was originally predicted to be 8.2 per cent.

A large chunk of the deliberations meeting on Tuesday was taken up with the issue of the Rotokawau Virginia Lake aviary.

The council’s proposal is to include $50,000 for immediate remedial works, a business case and enclosure design options, and to provide up to $150,000 for total operating costs.

Elsewhere, $45,000 instead of the original $60,000 was removed from the budget for the implementation of the council’s open space and physical activity strategy.

On the climate front, $50,000 was reinstated to enable further work on climate change risk assessment for the district.

Council policy manager Elise Broadbent said the money would probably be used to hire a consultant to carry out that work.

“We believe it’s important to the district and really valuable heading into our long-term plan.”

Council chief financial officer Mike Fermor said the average residential rates increase would be 8.7 per cent, with commercial at 6.5 per cent, farming at 7.8 per cent and lifestyle at 13 per cent.

Funding of $200,000 for the coastal action plan has been deferred to the long-term plan while the reduction of $1 million in the budget for solar initiatives has been confirmed.

Councillor Michael Law said councillors weren’t climate change deniers but “prudent people with a budget”.

He didn’t support putting money back into the climate budget.

“A further amount of money will now be spent on consultants, who could come from out of our region.

“We may have another report to deliberate [on] in a few months’ time. I’d like to see proper, fiscal responsibility that delivers economic and social value.”

Councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay said he would hold his nose and vote for the reduction of $100,000 in heritage building grants but hoped it would be reinstated in the long-term plan process.

The council agreed to fund the Whanganui Surf Lifeguard Service an extra $15,000 to cover minimum wage increases, not the $28,000 requested to meet the living wage.

It denied the service’s request for $10,000 for administration and a further $10,000 for a business case for the long-term plan.

A request from the Bushy Park Tarapuruhi Trust for $50,000 annually was referred to the community contracts process for 2023/24.

Councillor Jenny Duncan said the amount of work that had gone into the annual plan was extraordinary.

“It’s just really sad for me that all of that work kind of gets lost in the revaluation of our community and where that’s landed.

“So many of our communities are looking at extraordinary rate rises while others, probably in the more affluent areas, are looking at reductions.

“It’s out of our hands and we are unable to do anything about it.”

Long-serving councillors Philippa Baker-Hogan and Rob Vinsen said the increase was the highest they had seen in their time on the council.

Council had conducted a very open process in setting the rates, Vinsen said.

“We’re not comfortable about 8.3 per cent but I think in the circumstances it’s the best that could be done.”

Mayor Andrew Tripe said everyone wanted low rates but the current environment wouldn’t allow that to happen.

“We’ve pushed really hard to get it to here and we believe where we are right now is the right balance.”

The final annual plan 2023/24 document will be presented for adoption at a council meeting on June 20 or June 27.