Residents rallying for lobby group
Rates rises, ambitious spending plans and the creation of protected cycle lanes on a busy Palmerston North street have stirred residents’ interest in what the city council is up to.
A second Palmerston North Residents’ public meeting on Tuesday attracted a crowd of about 250 to hear from and interrogate the seven city councillors who fronted up.
A crowd of 800 to 1000 people also attended a city council-hosted Planning Palmerston North Expo last weekend.
And already more than 400 people have lodged submissions on the draft long-term plan, ahead of the May 9 deadline.
The most recent high score for longterm plan submissions was 661 in 2021.
Councillor William Wood, who also spoke at the first residents’ meeting of nearly 300 people, said if everyone in the room put in a submission and encouraged one other person to do so, there could be more than 1000 submissions for the council to consider.
But councillor Brent Barrett, one of the 13 not invited to speak at the first meeting, told people to ensure they were quality submissions that explained what should be changed and why that would be better for them and for the wider community.
“Just because 1000 people say to go jump off a cliff doesn’t make it a good idea.”
Barrett said although he had supported the draft plan going out for consultation, that did not mean he thought it was perfect. While he had his own views, he would be considering submissions with an open mind. “My bias is that more needs doing to look after our people and our environment and our future.”
The residents’ group has formed in response to potential rates rises, changes in the rating system, some big-ticket spending on capital projects, and outrage about the Featherston St makeover to create a separated cycle lane.
The total rates rise for 2024/25 could be 11.3%, but that would impact differently on groups of ratepayers, particularly if the council moved to rating partially or fully on capital values like the majority of other councils, instead of the current purely land value-based system.
Double digit increases during the next three years could be compounded by an additional levy of around $1000 a year per property for 30 years to pay for a new wastewater management project. The amount of capital spending forecast for the next decade could see debt rise to $660m.
Other councillors who spoke were Karen Naylor, who was present at the first meeting, with first-time appearances from Vaughan Dennison, Kaydee Zabelin, Leonie Hapeta and Mark Arnott.
Arnott said putting up rates time after time to pay for things that were nice to have was not the answer to the city’s challenges. But rather than just making submissions, he urged people to enrol and vote if they wanted to influence change.
Residents’ group spokesperson Jackie Wheeler said interest in the group’s social media page had grown from zero to 430 in two weeks in response to concern about what was going on in the city.