Setting rates a ‘job from hell’
Nelson faces its most difficult rates setting process because of the impact of rising costs on council and household budgets, mayor Nick Smith says.
‘‘It’s the job from hell,’’ the mayor said during a day-long retreat yesterday for the new council, elected last October.
Smith said the council faced a number of financial headwinds caused by inflation.
Construction costs, which made up a large part of council spending, had risen 14%; rising interest rates would add to the costs of servicing the council’s $112 million debt; and council staff were seeking cost-of-living increases.
On top of that was an estimated $40m to $60m worth of damage from last August’s floods and slips. While the council would pursue relief from the Government for some of those costs, and from insurance, ‘‘it seems inevitable that at least $25 million will fall on ratepayers’’, Smith said.
Balancing all that during the annual plan process was an awareness of the cost pressures already on households and businesses, he said.
Deputy mayor Rohan O’NeillStevens, who came up with the retreat initiative, said the financial challenges made it crucial that the council had an effective, functioning team.
The council’s proposed rate rise will be publicised in March. Consultation will follow as part of the annual plan process, with hearings and deliberations before the plan is adopted in June.
Among the presenters at the retreat were former long-serving Wellington mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast, who said highperforming councils needed to have an agreed vision, goals on how to get there, and a budget to support it.
Christina Leung, principal economist from economic consultancy NZIER, outlined the expected financial challenges, including record low levels of business confidence stemming from uncertainty caused by rising interest rates and other costs.
Other topics covered at the retreat at the Beachside Conference and Events Centre in Ta¯hunanui were ways to resolve the contentious issue of council forestry; how to translate climate change ambition into action; and how to engage and communicate better with the community.
It was not all work, though – councillors were to set to bond over a round of mini-golf and a barbecue.