Different views on ratepayers report

The 2018 Ratepayers’ Report shows Ka¯ piti Coast District Council continues to perform strongly in terms of operating costs per ratepayer, ranking second lowest in the country for the second year running.

Mayor K Gurunathan was pleased to see the report show the council “performing so well in terms of efficiency when it comes to the day-to-day costs of providing services across the district”.

“The report shows the council is a fairly lean organisation when compared to other councils throughout New Zealand, which is consistent with our approach

‘Right

now, our council’s primary focus is to live within our

means.’ financial Mayor K Gurunathan

to spending less to pay back more and help keep rates affordable,” he said in a statement.

Operations and finance committee chairman Michael Scott was comfortable with the report’s findings.

“Right now, our council’s primary focus is to live within our financial means. Despite our operating costs being low we know we have some work to do to reduce our debt levels and we’re already taking steps to pay off our borrowings faster.

“For example, we’re using the majority of this year’s surplus to pay off debt. Over the 20 years of our long term plan we’ll be repaying almost $30 million.

“This does mean that we need to make some tough calls but it will ensure we can meet the needs of our communities both now and in the future.

“Last year we reduced our capital programme by $7.5 million to reduce borrowing levels.”