The public will have a month (from Saturday, 30 April until Tuesday, 31 May) to comment on the Events Centre suggestion and a raft of other spending proposed under the Council’s Draft Annual Plan for the 12 months beginning 1 July this year.
Changes to the Local Government Act mean the 2005-06 Draft Annual Plan is smaller than previous years and its main focus is to update financial information on the Council’s proposed budget and rates.
Regional Council Chairman Mark Farnsworth says the Draft Plan effectively calls for twice as much money - just over $10 million in total - to be collected from the owners of the almost 74,000 Northland properties the Council will rate.
“Those property owners will be billed an average of about $137 each over the next 12 months, compared to about $71 in the current financial year.”
He says proposed spending on the Regional Events Centre accounts for $3.8 million (roughly two-thirds) of the almost extra $5 million the Council plans to ask ratepayers for this year.
Other significant new spending earmarked for 2005-06 includes about $560,000 on the Awanui River Flood Management Scheme and a $200,000 rise in land management spending, including a proposed increase in the Council’s Environmental Fund.
An additional $400,000 spending will also be needed in the environmental and planning areas.
Mr Farnsworth says much of the extra environmental and planning spending is to ensure Council complies with Central Government laws in the consultation, aquaculture and transport areas.
He says at $27.05 million, proposed overall Council expenditure in the coming financial year is twice the current year’s – with those figures also heavily influenced by the $12.2 million that the Events Centre would cost during the 12 months the budget covers.
“The decision to put forward a proposed budget on the scale suggested came after a great deal of soul-searching by Councillors, who are acutely aware of the community’s desire to keep costs down as much as practicable.”
However, Mr Farnsworth says a recent independent telephone survey of 1015 Northlanders showed 56 percent were in favour of being rated to help pay for the Regional Events Centre proposal, with 33 percent against and 11 percent undecided.
He says the Draft Annual Plan submission process now gives all Northlanders a chance to have their say on whether the Events Centre and other proposals should proceed.
Meanwhile, he says the Draft Annual Plan also offers the public the chance to comment on the general approaches the Council is considering for the profits from last year’s sale of 19.9 percent of its shares in the Northland Port Corporation.
Mr Farnsworth says general investment approaches being considered are:
- Investing the funds in a conservative, diversified investment portfolio with income either used to subsidise rates or being reinvested to grow the fund for future community benefit.
- Establishing a regional infrastructure fund that Northland Councils could borrow from at low interest for infrastructural projects.
Submissions on the Draft Annual Plan will be considered by Councillors in Whangarei in early June.
Based on the submissions, any changes to the Draft will be incorporated in a revised Annual Plan to be presented to the full Council for adoption at special meeting in June.
A final version of the Annual Plan will then be printed and distributed in July.
Copies of the Draft Annual Plan will be available from Council offices in early May - or the Council’s website www.nrc.govt.nz