Near 3pc fall in council

Timaru District councillors have sliced 2.9 per cent off a proposed 7.5 per cent rates increase for the next financial year.

The budgeted rates rise is now 4.6 per cent after councillors spent an hour debating the issue yesterday, with acting group manager for commercial and strategy Stephen Halliwell assuring the public there would be no reduction in services.

The total rates generated will now be $52.7 million, which is $2.4m higher than last year’s take but below the initial budget of $54.02m.

Halliwell said much of the reason for the smaller than initially proposed rates increase was due to the timing of certain projects, in particular the Theatre Royal upgrade, Heritage Hub development and Pareora pipeline renewal.

There was also a significant increase in funding from the NZ Transport Agency, which had been flagged recently, but had not been included in the Long Term Plan.

In total, the council is set to receive an extra $1.9m in subsidies and grants in 2019-20 from what was budgeted for the year in the LTP.

‘‘We’ve benefited from new NZTA funding, which places more focus on footpath maintenance and walking and cycleways.’’

Halliwell said thanks to reduced finance costs and depreciation, there had been no cuts to any council department operating budgets.

He could not give examples of where savings were made explicitly.

During yesterday’s meeting, councillors debated whether to fund the proposed Highfield Golf Hub, but instead of the proposed $125,000 towards it, the council agreed to only $75,000.