Council look to the year ahead
As the year kicks into gear, elected members will be getting together this week and next to talk about how we feel things are going, and to share aspirations for 2024.
We already have some great feedback from our Vision Kā piti work alongside the vision for each community to feed into these discussions. The pop-up sessions in Coastlands over the school holidays were very successful and people of all ages stopped by to give us their thoughts.
This work will continue alongside the consultation on our Long-term Plan. This is one of the most important pieces of work this year, and sets out clear priorities for spending. There will be opportunities in each community to feedback on the consultation document over the coming months. Three key issues we’ll be consulting on will be funding the increased cost of water services, delivering affordable housing, and investing in Ngā Manu Nature Reserve.
The funding question is significant. Like all councils across the country, we are looking at a significant figure this year as we struggle with the increasing costs of delivering services and projects.
In Kā piti we’ve always funded our future spending to avoid debt levels spinning out of control. The removal of the affordable water reforms (Three Waters) has meant that we need to add the cost of debt back onto our books. We’ll be asking if you agree with our approach to keep debt levels under control and continue to follow our current future-focused financial strategy. We’ll also be identifying some key projects, including keeping our community connected and dealing with projected growth through some important stormwater and roading projects.
Speaking of roading projects, the impact of the Waikanae Bridge project being delivered by Waka Kotahi NZTA has intensified with the start of the school year, as anticipated. We have been pushing to improve the delivery of the project, and Waka Kotahi has agreed to review the traffic management plan and continues to monitor the traffic calming and movement. We are continuing to push to complete the project as soon as possible. We are concerned about the safety of getting around the district while this project is under way, and we’ll continue to work with Waka Kotahi to deliver the work as safely and quickly as possible.