Council calls for community feedback on Annual Plan

Darren Petry from Taupō District Council

Community feedback is being called for to help shape the Taupō District Council’s plans and priorities for the next 12 months.

This feedback process is part of council’s Annual Plan consultation period running from today, Monday 14 March to 4.30pm on Thursday 14 April 2022.

Taupō District Mayor David Trewavas said hearing from the community is an important part of shaping the plan – which continues to evolve thanks to the fast-moving environment we find ourselves in.

“What we aim to achieve with this plan is balancing affordability for ratepayers with maintaining the levels of service and investment that our district needs to thrive.

“What I’m sure we are all feeling right now are the ongoing effects of Covid-19, including constraints on the availability of resources, materials and supplies, alongside increasing inflation rates not seen in over three decades. These are impacting on the affordability of many of our plans and projects.

“With this evolving situation, and in order to balance that affordability, we need to be a bit more flexible in our approach to investment across our district. This means we’re looking to reprioritise some of our projects and activities to later years, while focusing on delivering many of our projects already underway, including the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity afforded to us with Taupō Town Centre Transformation project.

“By reprioritising projects, it allows us to keep the projected capital spend over the next 12 months around the same as what we had planned for.

“What we’re asking for feedback on is whether you’re comfortable with this more nimble approach – as we work through this fast-changing environment. Our Annual Plan consultation document goes into more detail about the major projects we had planned for the next 12 months and how the current climate has affected these – primarily in terms of costs and timing – and what we are proposing for these.

“Alongside this, we are also asking for feedback on updates to our fees and charges, the Taupō Towncentre management rate, and our significance and engagement policy which we have recently updated.

“Please take the time to read through our plans and the issues we have highlighted. We want to hear from you – our community – on whether you think we have this right, whether we have prioritised appropriately, and what is important to you,” Mr Trewavas said.

Based on the current plan, the projected average rates rise for 2022/2023 is around 8.35%, with a proportion of this due to increasing government costs and regulations, like the requirement to purchase carbon units which have doubled in price in the past 12 months under the Emissions Trading Scheme.

To read the Annual Plan consultation document and to have your say head to taupo.govt.nz/haveyoursay.