Since Council adopted the LTP in 2021 The Waimakariri District, like the rest of New Zealand and the World, has faced many challenges. These include, the effects of Covid-19, supply chain issues, rising energy costs and ongoing inflationary pressures.

Simply, there’s been no economic period quite like this in the last 30 years.

Council had projected a rise in rates of 4.3% for this year, but as inflation has increased, it has put significant pressure on operational budgets. To continue to provide the level of service rate payers expect, it has forced a higher rate increase than expected.

Council started with a proposed rates increase of 14.4%. After thoroughly reviewing work programmes, looking for savings and at what projects can be deferred to keep increases as low as possible – a significantly lower increase of 5.97% has been reached.

Mayor Dan Gordon says he is pleased the Council was able to achieve its goal of keeping rates increases under the cpi inflation rate of 7.2%.

“We are pleased to report we have managed to cap our proposed rates significantly lower than forecasted at 5.97%.

“During the pandemic we made it a priority to ensure rates were kept low. At the start of the pandemic, we had just a 1.5% increase and subsequent 4.5% increases.

“In both instances we had one of the lowest increases in Canterbury, but unfortunately, we can’t keep rates artificially low forever without doing a disservice to our residents in the future while maintaining the levels of service the community expects.”

Key issues in the Draft Annual Plan:

1. New regulations mean Council needs to test water supplies more regularly and potentially bring forward planned upgrades
2. Immediate improvements need to be made to the stormwater network following flooding from extreme weather events
3. Inflation is  affecting the roading budget and more is needed to make sure local roads are maintained at a high standard.

Other issues

In Local Government there continues to be a lot of uncertainty with four central-government driven reform programmes underway – Three Waters, Resource Management Reforms, the Future for Local Government Review as well as Modernising the Emergency Management Framework.

There’s also new legislation aimed to meet the challenges of a changing climate. This will affect how the Council runs, as well as new urban planning rules which Council is required to follow.

A strong financial backing

Credit rating agency, Standard and Poor’s, recently announced that Waimakariri District Council has retained its AA long-term and A-1+ short-term credit rating with a stable outlook.

The AA rating equates the Council with New Zealand’s national credit rating – the ‘sovereign rating’. Standard and Poor’s does not rate any individual Council higher than the sovereign rating.

Standard and Poor’s noted that the Council has strong financial management and budget flexibility. The consistency of Council’s financial performance, and how it is rated, assists significantly when it comes to future borrowing and rates that can’t otherwise be achieved.

“I would like to acknowledge our elected members efforts and the hard work from staff in preparing the Annual Plan, in what has been a tough economic environment,” said Mayor Gordon.

“Our staff have done an excellent job working through and finding savings that mean our rates are much lower than inflation. As a result, our Council will have one of the lower increases in New Zealand.

“Importantly it also ensures any critical work isn’t put off for too long.”

How to have your say

For more information or to make a submission visit Waimakariri.govt.nz/letstalk.