LTCCP

The City Council’s approved LTCCP document will be available from this week.

The Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) was approved on June 22, following Committee workshops and meetings to make changes to the plan in response to public submissions.

The document in its final version will be available at the Customer Service Centre, libraries, the Village Valley Centre at Ashhurst and on the Council’s website from Thursday, July 22.

The main features of the LTCCP and the approved rate rise of 5.4 percent are;

• The current levels of service have been retained in full into the 2004/2005 financial year
• Approximately 45 new operating programmes or extensions of service have been added
• Nearly $35 million has been planned in capital works â?? including a large number of renewals, improvements and committed expenditure
• More than 90 discretionary capital expenditure programmes where the Council is adding to the pool of community assets have been included
• The Council has made provision for future investments in strategic assets such as the Palmerston North International Airport and another bridge across the Manawatu River
• The Council has become more effective and efficient during the present term of office and has reduced the quantum of rates predicted two years ago at 6.5 percent to only 5.4 percent at a time when it’s added more services and acquired additional assets.

One major change to the Draft Plan is that the proposed ongoing reduction of $500,000 in the annual grant to Te Manawa will not go ahead. Instead, there is a single reduction this year of $250,000, after which the grant will return to its current level.

Some matters, such as the waste/recycling issue, the use of the proceeds of the Railway Land, rating methodology and committee structures, have been left as issues for the new Council to consider following the election in October.

LTCCP/Annual Plan Coordinator, Tracey Boukhelida, says the Council is currently preparing personal responses to submissions made during the March/April consultation period and these will be sent out shortly.

While the LTCCP is the Council’s blueprint for the next 10 years, the government still requires a 12 month update together with the annual rate adjustment each year. That document will retain the title of the Annual Plan.

Once a new Council, elected in October, is sworn in, Tracey and her colleagues in the LTCCP team will brief Councillors on the requirements of the LTCCP and the Draft Annual Plan. The team will incorporate ideas and suggestions that occurred during the process into the preparation of the next LTCCP in 2006.

To view or download the LTCCP please click here.