Porirua’s Long-Term Plan – Securing the Future

Porirua City Council signed off its draft Long-term Plan (LTP) last night with a focus on balancing the books as well as investing more in infrastructure.

“Every year we grapple with balancing the budget and rate increases against investing in our city’s core infrastructure and assets,” says Mayor Nick Leggett.

“In drafting this LTP we have been bold in addressing our financial challenges and getting the basics right without compromising on our core infrastructure that’s crucial to the successful running of every city. We want to ensure our young people can look forward to living in a city that plans for today but with their future in mind too.

“This has meant that the opportunity for significant social infrastructure investment is delayed until the end of the 10 year period of this plan. However, in the short term we are looking to some more modest investment in a partnership arrangement for a performing arts centre, a splash pad for children and carrying out improvements in the city centre to open it up for new kinds of activities to occur.”

Also in the draft plan is a new children’s priority that places the needs and aspirations of young people first.

“Forty per cent of our population is aged under 25 years. So we will be putting them at the centre of our decision-making to ensure the city they inherit will enable them to thrive and prosper,” Mayor Leggett says. “Whether it’s network infrastructure, access to Wi-Fi, or recreational and cultural amenities, we will ask the question – is this the best we can do for kids in the city? If not, it’s back to the drawing board.”

The Council has made its decisions guided by its financial strategy to balance the budget, bringing debt levels down and manage rate increases for residents.

“In doing this, rate increases are slightly higher than we want partly because we’re rating more for depreciation.

“Our other challenge is that 74% of our cash revenue comes from rates compared to a 54% average for all other councils. That’s a $13 million difference in real terms! And we have fewer ratepayers than might be expected for our population yet we provide the same levels of service and functions as other councils.”

In the first year of the LTP, the average increase in rates will be 4.8 per cent. This means the average ratepayer will with a property value of $381,000 will pay $124 more per annum or $2.38 per week although some people will pay more and some will pay less.

New initiatives in the draft plan include:

City Centre Revitalisation - Our city centre is not thriving. We have a number of vacant shops and Cobham Court is overdue for updating. We will be spending $12 million over the next three years on remodelling the public space in a number of ways, for example shifting the public toilets from Lyttelton Ave to Cobham Court and making the area more pedestrian friendly. As part of this we’re looking at options around the canopies.

Splash pad – with specialised water play equipment such as jets, water cannons and water buckets.

The project is proposed for construction in 2016/17 at a capital cost of $500,000;

Performing Arts Centre - We have been approached by Aotea College to partner with it in a new auditorium that would serve the school as well as the wider community. The new auditorium is part of a wider master plan for the College. We propose to spend $1 million in 2017/18 as a contribution towards this.

Live Streaming - We are proposing to spend $65,000 in the next year to live stream the main Council meetings.

The Council’s Long-Term Plan 2015 – 25 will be open for consultation from 2 April to 1 May. Register to have your say online athttp://haveyoursay.pcc.govt.nz/welcome-to-have-your-say-porirua

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