Council in unenviable position

If there was ever a time when we as a council needed to demonstrate financial prudency, it is now.

Financially, we are in an unenviable position. It has been the “perfect storm” for us as we have gone about preparing our budgets for the next few years. Like all businesses and households, we’ve been hit with high inflation and increased interest costs. For the council, there is an additional factor; the re-inclusion of the infrastructure costs of Three Waters until an alternative delivery model is decided upon. And, finally, throw in the costs we bear on a temporary basis to meet the growth expectations central Government requires, and the picture is a challenging one. We know many other councils are experiencing these same challenges, particularly the ones experiencing growth.

As in my personal life as a dairy farmer and mother, as mayor I am committed to ensuring money is spent wisely and in the most efficient way. We have an experienced, committed, and hardworking team at Waipa. They are working collaboratively to ensure the very best information for our community to consider in our Enhanced Annual Plan.

We know that the proposed average rate increase of 14.8 per cent is hard to swallow, but the costs we cannot control required a 16 per cent increase alone. We’ve called on reserve funding to try to ease the impact.

We begin consulting with our community on our Enhanced Annual Plan this Friday.

We’ve tried to strike a balance and we want to hear from as many people as possible about whether we have that balance right.

Please make sure you have your say.

Waipā District Mayor Susan O’Regan