TDC to consider draft annual plan, rates, speed limit changes, tourism rate
Tasman District Council will consider approving its draft annual plan for public consultation at its meeting on Friday 12 March.
The highlight of this year’s draft annual plan is the proposed average general rates increase of 3.97 per cent, while similar to last year’s increase, the bulk of this increase is made up of an allowance for inflation of 3 per cent.
“Considering the Ten Year Plan, adopted last year, identified a rate increase of 5.12 per cent for 2010/11, the councillors, with the assistance of the staff, have done an extremely good job of identifying savings to achieve the lower rate of increase,” said Tasman Mayor Richard Kempthorne. “This reduction has been achieved while still maintaining the infrastructure development and services essential to meet the growing needs of our communities.”
The draft annual plan identifies the projects and activities the council is proposing to undertake during 2010/2011 and the costs of that work.
“It’s important to note, however, that the proposed general rates increase is only part of the story,” continued the Mayor. “Council also has a number of targeted rates for specific services it provides. As the targeted rates apply to properties depending on the services being provided, the proposed total rates increase will not be the same for all properties. For most properties, however, the total rates increase proposed will be around 5 per cent, including the 3 per cent allowance for inflation.”
If the council adopts the draft annual plan on Friday, the summary of the plan will go out as a special edition of the council’s Newsline on 19 March and the full draft annual plan will be available to the public on Monday 22 March on council’s website and from council offices and libraries. Submissions will close on Monday 26 April.
The council will also consider several matters of interest to Golden Bay readers. These include: The level of the targeted rate for tourism, the level of the targeted rates for communities with community boards, some proposed speed limit changes, a proposal to provide $200,000 of extra funding for Tourism Nelson Tasman, and the establishment of a voluntary repayment scheme through council’s rates to enable ratepayers to take advantage of government subsidies through the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority.
The GB Weekly will publish more details about these issues in next week’s edition.
