Council approves draft plan
We’ll do better next time.
That was the promise from Invercargill City Council chief executive Richard King after the council finally approved its draft 2015-25 long-term plan at an extraordinary meeting yesterday.
‘‘It’s a new process we’ve had to get through and it’s been complex to satisfy . . . it’s been searching.’’
King thanked the auditors, council staff and councillors for their contributions.
‘‘Obviously the process has been delayed and we’ve learned from that and in the next three years we’ll be better at it.’’
City council manager of strategy and policy Melissa Short told councillors that during the audit process several amendments were needed to asset management plans, so to make sure the right information was available to the public the council had been asked to reapprove the asset plans.
The plans covering 2015-25 were originally approved in February by the council but following peer review and the audit process, some amendments had been made, Short’s report to the meeting says.
The amendments related to updated significant forecasting assumptions and knowledge about the assets which has been gained since the 2011 versions, the report says.
The plans cover the council’s anticipated roading, sewerage, stormwater, parks and reserves, core buildings and water supply assets.
Finance and policy committee chairman Neil Boniface said the preparation of the draft long-term plan had been a long, drawn out process. The public would see in the consultation document being distributed that the council would be spending more on infrastructure, he said.
Included in this was the tens of millions of dollars needed to replace failing asbestos cement water pipes in Invercargill had changed that. The pipes were laid in the late 1960s and early 70s and were supposed to last up to 65 years, but had begun to fail after about 45 years. A significant portion of the city’s sewerage network was also due for replacement within the next 30 years.
Residents faced a 3.71 per cent rates hike in the 2015-16 financial year which Boniface said was quite a high rise, but the average for the next 10 years was 3.8 per cent. This was inflation dependent, and with inflation lower than expected he said he believed the increases would be less than forecast.