Have your say on Christchurch's $16.8 billion long-term plan
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Photo: Christchurch City Council
Christchurch City Council’s Draft Long Term Plan is now out for feedback until Sunday 21 April and the organisation has released an easy to use online tool to help residents see how the budget will be used.
The Long Term Plan outlines what the Council has planned for the next 10 years.
It’s their contract with the community. It sets out the services they’ll provide and major projects they’ll undertake, what it will cost, how it will be funded and what rates will need to be for the next 10 years.
Every local council in New Zealand has to do one every three years. The Council is proposing a $16.8 billion budget over 10 years – $9.1 billion of that on the day-to-day services it provides like waste collection and libraries, and $6.5 billion of that on the Council’s programme of capital works, which will make sure it can do all the work it needs to do, and deliver it in the timeframe set.
It also means $226 million on road, footpath and cycleway renewals, and $480 million on renewing and upgrading the city’s water networks, in the first three years.
For the average household, the Council is proposing a 12.4% rates increase, which comes to $8 a week. The proposed overall average for all properties, including business and rural, is 13.24%.
The Council is making cost savings and adding revenue of $6 million in 2024/25. Over the whole 10 years, they’ve identified $41 million of operational cost savings and additional revenue, without affecting the current levels of service.
Making these savings is always a balancing act – the Council wants to keep providing residents with the levels of service they expect, while keeping rates affordable and giving the city “debt headroom”, which means the Council can borrow comfortably in case there’s some unexpected event, like COVID-19.
Feedback from the community will help shape this plan. Every time the Council develops a LTP, it makes changes based on the feedback they receive, and this may mean adjustments to rates, debt and service levels.
Before giving feedback, residents should take some time to read the Council’s consultation document and think about their proposed plan. Have they got the balance between rates and spending right?
Have they prioritised the right things? If not, what changes would you like to see?
If reading lines of data isn’t your thing, the Council has developed an online budget tool. Users can search by the area they live in, the type of project, the project name or even just a key word.
Whether on a laptop, tablet or phone, people can see each project as a colourful bubble – the bigger the bubble, the bigger the project. It’s a really visual and user-friendly way to see how that project’s funding stacks up against other projects.
There isn’t much time left for people to have a say – submissions close at midnight on Sunday 21 April. People can visit ccc.govt.nz/longtermplan to make a submission, or pop into their nearest library or service centre and ask for a form. People can also ring the Council on (03) 941 8999, provide their details and a good time for the Council to call back, and a staff member will be in touch.
