Community Plan Confirmed for New Plymouth District

The 2009-2019 Community Plan has been confirmed, with significant savings locked in over the 10-year life of the plan.

The savings include an additional $313,000 of income in the Customer and Regulatory Services budget, due to the downturn in the building and land use areas being less than expected.

Today (Tuesday) New Plymouth District Council confirmed an increase of 3.61 per cent in the amount collected in general rates in 2009/10, as well as the following increases for targeted rates (uniform charges paid by those receiving these services):

• Water, $4.00 per year.
• Sewerage, $9.50 per year.
• Refuse, $3.00 per year.
• Roading, $112.50 per year.

The Council also approved a review of all levels of service (the services provided by NPDC and to what standard) in 2009/10, the results of which will have a significant effect on the budget figures in future years.

“Significant budget savings and efficiencies have been found over the last 12 months as we prepared the draft Community Plan and in many cases worthwhile projects have been delayed – but this Council is not underestimating the effect of the challenging times this country is facing,” says Mayor Peter Tennent.

“This will be an in-depth review of everything this Council does, starting with the services that have the greatest impact on our costs: The district’s infrastructure.”

During the creation of the Community Plan the Council consulted with 1,400 individuals and organisations, received more than 550 submissions and heard from 94 submitters.

“The people we’ve heard from appreciate that we live somewhere very special.

“While folk are asking us to protect the fantastic lifestyle and opportunities we all enjoy in this community, there was an expectation that we try to ensure our rates per capita continues to be one of the cheapest in the country,” says the Mayor.

The decisions made for the 2009-2019 Community Plan include confirmation of the proposals to reduce the opening hours of Puke Ariki’s South Wing by closing the library service on public holidays, reducing the Festival of Lights budget by $50,000, and deferring the Waitara to New Plymouth sewer pipeline.

The investigation of the Urenui/Onaero sewerage scheme has been pushed out another three years, to start in 2012/13.

Not supported in the draft plan was the proposed $30,000 reduction in operating the district pools, enabling the pools to open for the full season next year rather than reducing the season by two weeks.

Refuse collection for the next four years will retain the current bags system across the existing collection area, but with the excess bag sticker price increased to $2.50 per bag.

Some of the changes confirmed in the Community Plan are:

• Providing $200,000 per year in 2010/11 and 2011/12 for the cycling velodrome in Hickford Park, Bell Block, provided the organisers raise the balance of funding required.
• Not continuing with the extension of the Urenui sea wall, but instead monitoring it and reconsidering the matter as part of the Draft 2012-2022 Community Plan.
• Reducing the budget for upgrading the festive streetlights by $30,000 per year, and halving the budget for upgrading the Festival of Lights light features to $30,000 per year from 2010/11.
• Reinstating $60,000 of the $100,000 (which had been removed in the draft plan) from the parks budget.
• Reinstating $50,000 per year (which had been removed in the draft plan) for the Art in Public Places Trust from year three of the Community Plan (2011/12).
• Investigating further support for the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust.
• Increasing the Marae Grants budget from $52,500 per year to $82,500.
• Providing $250,000 in year four (2012/13) for the proposed Community Services Centre, coordinated by the Positive Ageing Trust.
• Providing $100,000 for a skate bowl at East End Skate Park providing the skateboarders secure $60,000 from external funding for the project.
• Providing $60,000 seed funding for the creation of an eco show-home.
• Providing $50,000 for two mobile crime prevention cameras.
• Removing the temporary smoothing treatments on Devon Street’s traffic thresholds (at a cost of $10,000), instead of making the smoother profiles permanent (at a cost of $200,000).
• Addressing safety issues at the Linda Street tennis courts in Oakura within existing budgets.
• Bringing forward the Waitara walkway from West Quay to Marine Park from 2018/19 to 2015/16.
• Investigating the creation of two pedestrian crossings on Devon Street.

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