Draft Annual Plan 2007/2008

Councillors and staff had a full day workshop on 8th February, to discuss the Draft Annual Plan. This Annual Plan is Year 2 of the LTCCP (Long Term Council Community Plan). At the beginning of the workshop, the councillors and Mayor were faced with an unpalatable truth - the decisions made throughout the first nine months of the ten year plan, many of which incurred expenditure that was not budgeted for, had resulted in a likely rates increase of 17.8%.

Elected members were warned that while we insist that management and staff stick to budgets, working within tight budgets means that the Mayor and councillors also have to be disciplined with their spending.

After spending all day looking at the issues and investigating where cost savings could be made, councillors were able to give staff clear directions to bring forward to the Environmental and Planning Wellbeing Committee meeting on 28th. The anticipated rates increase that will be the starting point at that meeting is now 8.9%. Let’s hope nobody manages to gain majority support for any new initiatives that will increase rates beyond that 8.9%.