Last Chance to Comment on Draft Annual Plan
Wellingtonians have until next Monday to comment on the proposals included in Wellington City Council’s Draft Annual Plan.
Consultation on the plan began in mid-April and feedback is required by 5.00pm on Monday 19 May.
The Draft Annual Plan explains what the City Council is planning to do in the coming financial year, why, how much it will cost, and how it is proposing to pay.
Mayor Kerry Prendergast says community views will be one of the factors Councillors will take into account when they meet at the end of next month to make final decisions.
"We do want to know what people, groups and organisations think of the new initiatives and other changes proposed," she says.
Among the proposals that Wellingtonians can comment on this year are initiatives to make Courtenay Place safer, changes to make it easier to get in and out of Hataitai Park, funding for an annual Pasifika festival and a range of climate change initiatives, including a study to look at the feasibility of a small-scale wind farm at the Southern Landfill. These and other proposals are outlined in greater detail in the Draft Annual Plan 2008/09.
To fund this year's work programme, a 4.79 percent average real rates increase is being proposed, plus some increases in user charges.
The increase is below the 7.08 percent increase forecast for the 2008/09 financial year in the city's long-term plan. Although the average rates increase is 4.79 percent, the actual movement in rates will vary depending on changes in capital value and on the effect of the rates differential between businesses and households.
Copies of the draft plan are available at the Council's service centre in Wakefield Street, in all city libraries, online on the website or by phoning 499 4444.
To comment on the plan, residents can email annual.plan@wcc.govt.nz, write a letter, fill out the submission form contained in the draft plan and the latest copy of the Council's Absolutely Positively Wellington newspaper, or make an online submission.