Roading boost and a reshuffle has Ashburton District rates rise at 5.9%

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

An extra $1 million for roading to respond to community demands and a budget reshuffle signals a 5.9% average rate rise in the Ashburton District.

Faced with five options ranging from 5.9 to 8.8%, the councillors opted to include an extra $1m of unsubsidised road funding but kept the rate rise down to 5.9% by reorganising other work.

Chief executive Hamish Riach said the reshuffle essentially removed about $1.3m out of the budget for the inclusion of the $1m on roading.

The reshuffle means some water and wastewater renewals will be delayed that were unlikely to be completed in the work programme anyway and a reduced depreciation to match the reduced spend.

The revised draft budget has an increase of about $2.65m on the 2022-23 budget, but only an $881,894 increase what was proposed in the long-term plan (LTP), which had forecast a 5.5% rise.

Mayor Neil Brown said the extra $1m for road maintenance was not for fixing potholes, as that was already covered in the budget, but was for “building new road” by contributing about 4km of road rehabilitation on top of the existing 10km subsidised by Waka Kotahi.

A large chunk of the increase is related to three waters compliance and is work the council has no choice but to complete, including $200,000 to develop water safety plans.

Other factors impacting the overall budget picture were a proposed reuse shop at the council’s resource recovery park being pulled from the annual plan and will be addressed in next year’s LTP.

The proposed addition of an extra $180,000 for visitor promotion did not get enough support.

An additional $60,000 for CBD landscape maintenance was added, while the Balmoral Hall upgrade has been included.

The proposed $464,000 refurbishment, which is a loan funded project and has no impact on the rates rise, may not go ahead as it requires further investigation.

There will also be an increase in parking fees at Eastfield, going up from $2 to $3.

A draft annual plan will come back to the council by the end of March and as it will be close to the LTP there is no requirement for consultation.

Councillor Russell Ellis said with the historic low turnout in consultations “it’s not worth the effort” or the approximate $25,000 cost to consult.