Water waste and transportation next focus for 10-Year Plan

Savings in the areas of water, waste and transportation are up for discussion when Hamilton City Council meets on Tuesday, 11 October.

The meeting will be the fifth of seven held throughout September and October to review the entire business of Council as part of its drive to make operational savings of $14.5 million in order to stabilise the city’s debt and rates.

At Tuesday’s meeting Council will consider a range of recommendations from staff that could see savings of $808,300 and increased revenue of $1.185 million across five areas of the business – Solid Waste Management, Stormwater Drainage, Transportation (including Parking Management), Wastewater and Water Supply.

Up for consideration is a proposal that user pays fees and charges for rubbish bags be introduced in 2014/15 and that staff investigate the installation of water meters by 2019.

It is also recommended that the threshold for using asphalt road surfacing over seal be changed from roads with over 10,000 vehicles per day to roads with over 15,000 vehicles per day. Asphalt surfacing costs about four times the cost of chip seal but lasts longer, and the proposed change would result in $137,500 in savings.

Other proposed service reductions include after hours responses to minor non-urgent stormwater, wastewater and water matters; cleaning of Council-owned open drains and channels; on-street landscape planting and maintenance; area wide pavement renewal work; footpath maintenance; and city cleaning activities.

Stopping the septic tank cleaning services for rural properties and maintenance of vehicle crossings will be considered, along with proposed fee increases in a number of areas including traffic management plan approvals, out of district wastewater disposal charges, trade waste charges and water drawn from hydrants.

The decisions made at Tuesday’s meeting will feed into the draft 10-Year Plan which the public can formally have their say on from March next year. In the meantime the public can share their views by speaking at a 30-minute public forum at the start of each Council meeting, as well as commenting at an online forum at http://getinvolved.hcc.govt.nz/smartthinking

Hamilton City Council Chief Executive Barry Harris said: “The business areas up for discussion next week are core Council services, therefore identifying opportunities for cost savings in these areas can be challenging.

“The recommendations put forward by staff offer some significant opportunities for savings and increased revenue in these key areas of our business, which are required in order to achieve the financial targets that Council has set.”

Recommendations for savings in Zoo and Swimming Facilities will also be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting, after these items were held over from the last 10-Year Plan meeting on Thursday, 6 October.