Winners and losers in Far North budget deliberations

An extra $215,000 has been added to the Far North District Council's budget for the new financial year in a bid to meet community demands for higher service levels in the tourist belt.

The operational budget increase has been designed to provide an opportunity for the council to coordinate with local communities to achieve improvements in areas such as beach cleaning, toilet maintenance and the provision of extra services at the height of the visitor season including Waitangi Day.

But it will come at a cost with ratepayers in the northern and eastern areas to be asked to pay a uniform increase in ward rates to cover the spending. A further $5 per rating assessment will be added to the ward rate in the Te Hiku Ward and $10 in the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Ward.

The council this week also signalled its intention to introduce charges for the use of public toilets servicing the visitor industry at Kawakawa (Hundertwasser toilets) and Paihia (Williams Road toilets).

The council move to increase operational spending follows strong representations in draft Annual Plan submissions from the eastern seaboard for a lift in service levels to better present their towns.

The draft Annual Plan was prepared with substantial cuts to capital projects across the board, other than those for which funding commitments had already been made. The additional district facilities spend is in contrast to the earlier cuts and to the draft plan proposal to match any new spending by deleting other budget items to the same value.

In other areas the back-to-basics approach has been confirmed with the council signalling its intention to take a hard look at all aspects of "social spending," including grants and donations for social, sporting and cultural activities.

While the review of social spending will mainly impact in subsequent years, the funding to two citizens advice agencies and the Bay of Islands Arts Festival has already been cut by $15,000 this year ($5000 each). The $15,000 savings will be diverted to a consulting group on disabilities issues.

After hearing submissions, the council has also backed away from a proposal to reduce the commercial rate differential to 2.75 times the residential rate. The main area of concern to the council was the impact the change would have had on the rural sector, particularly at a time when farms had disproportionally been affected by recent revaluations.

With the commercial differential to stay at 3 for this year, there will be a marginal reduction in the proposed rate increase for residential properties, a 1% reduction in the rate increase for the farming sector and an increase in rates for commercial properties by between 4% and 5% over earlier projections.

An extra $5000 has been added to the budget to cover administration costs associated with any policy changes related to GMOs. A report on banning GMOs through a District Plan change is expected to be considered by the council later this year. This was another area which attracted strong submissions seeking a greater funding commitment.

Te Kao will get new public toilets up to a value of $70,000, but it will come at the cost of a refurbishment programme for the Melba Street toilets at Kaitaia. The Melba Street project has been placed on hold and will be reviewed after the Te Ahu complex is opened.

Calls for funding to refurbish the old Kaeo Post Office have also been deferred until other options have been canvassed including establishing a trust to manage the facility or leasing the building out to the private sector for some form of commercial activity.

Moerewa may be a winner with a suggestion that $37,000 in unallocated footpath funds be redirected by the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board to priority projects brought forward in submissions by the Moerewa Town Council.

A plea for funding assistance from the Doubtless Bay Information Centre has been placed on hold pending a financial report on i-Site funding across the district.

Deliberation decisions made by the council this week will be confirmed when the council adopts its revised Annual Plan and sets the rates on 23 June.