Media Release

Annual Plan Deliberations Begin

Waitakere City Council today began deliberations on its Draft Annual Plan (budget) for 2007/08.

Annual Plan Special Committee chairman Janet Clews says that during the next week councillors will be examining the “first cut” of recommended work plans and budgets and the outcomes will form the Draft Annual Plan and budget that is offered for public submissions.

“During this process we will be considering recommendations from the council, community boards and the chief executive," says Councillor Clews.

“It is important that the public know that this is the second year of the Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) that we adopted last year. This means that nearly all the work is already programmed, consulted and agreed upon and this is mainly a fine tuning exercise,” says Councillor Clews. 

“It is also important that the public realise that the council will be doing everything possible to reach the balance between the lowest possible rates while not sacrificing public services.” 

The council is scheduled to adopt the Draft Annual Plan on March 2 for public consultation.

Public submissions will open on Monday 26 March and close on Friday 27 April.

At its meeting this morning councillors discussed an urgent item regarding any possible financial contribution for an upgrade to Eden Park for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

While the council has not formally been asked to contribute funding for this, it resolved that if any such request is received from the Government it will consult with residents (during the Annual Plan process) before making a decision.  

While the Annual Plan sets the council’s budget for the coming financial year the LTCCP outlines the direction and spending intentions for the coming 10 years. 

Submission forms will be available in the April issue of the Waitakere News, on the council web site www.waitakere.govt.nz, at the Civic Centre, service centres and libraries. 

ENDS

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