Council adopts Annual Plan and amendment to LTCCP

Taupō District Council have adopted the Annual Plan 2011-12 with a proposed annual rate increase for the average residential property of 3.7% and have also adopted the amendment to its Long Term Council Community Plan 2009-2019 (LTCCP).

The Annual Plan takes a ‘business as usual’ approach, and although there are a number of projects which have been scaled back or delayed due to the economy or low growth, council is mainly on track with projections in its ten year plan ‘Towards 2019’.

Mayor Rick Cooper says Council have worked hard to keep the rates reasonable. “We have managed to keep rates at an affordable level. I think that this is a superb effort given these trying times we are facing.” He also wished to thank those who submitted. “We have made some changes to the Annual Plan based on the submissions received. We now look forward to the year ahead and getting stuck into some major projects.”

Group Manager Corporate and Infrastructure, Alan Menhennet, says the main changes arising from the amendment to the LTCCP are: moving to one rating area for the district, levying the Uniform Annual General Charge on each separately useable or inhabitable part of a rating unit and the introduction of the Turangi-Tongariro Community Board rate.

“Under the previous rating system we had two different rating areas, Taupō-Kaingaroa/Mangakino-Pouakani (TKMP) and Turangi-Tongariro (TT),” says Mr Menhennet. “Council now has one rating area and applies the same general rate across the whole district. There will be very little difference in the charges levied on each area however there will be savings made by reducing duplication and administration costs involved.”

Mr Menhennet says that properties that contain multiple businesses or dwellings have in the past paid one Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC); the same as a property with just one business or dwelling. “In order to make the basis for setting the UAGC fairer, the new policy requires that each separately useable or inhabitable part of a rating unit will pay a separate UAGC. As a result, the increased revenue of around $600,000 has helped to keep the rates increase reasonable across the district.”


Council has also introduced a targeted Community Board rate for Turangi-Tongariro to cover some of the costs of the board. The board would be mostly funded by ratepayers in the Turangi-Tongariro Ward, because it serves them, and partly funded from general rates by all ratepayers, because the district also benefits from an effective Community Board that builds strong relationships with communities in the Turangi-Tongariro area.

Full copies of the Annual Plan and the amendment to the LTCCP are now available from all Council offices and district libraries, or online at www.taupo.govt.nz