Queenstown Lakes District Councillors have voted to adopt the 2023-2024 Annual Plan which includes the proposed investment in infrastructure and community services for the coming year, as well as changes to user fees and Council rates.

The final plan has been amended to reflect submissions – made both internally and through community consultation – public hearings and deliberations on the draft plan earlier this year.

Its adoption at yesterday’s Full Council meeting confirmed an average increase in Council rates across the district of 14.2%. This has increased from the draft plan’s 13.6% as a result of the consultation process.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) General Manager Assurance, Finance & Risk Stewart Burns said it had been particularly challenging to minimise the rates increase whilst maintaining an effective capital expenditure programme and protecting levels of service on behalf of the community.

“Every council around the country is facing the same pressures of rising inflation, high interest rates and global supply challenges. In addition, we have had to factor in the cost of settling recent building defect and weather tightness claims against QLDC,” he said.

“We have amended our capital works programme from the current Ten Year Plan as a combined result of all these factors. Even after increasing fees for some services used by specific sections of our community – such as parking fees, building consents, animal registration and sport and recreational facilities – this has meant a higher-than-expected average rates increase across the district.”

“We acknowledge this comes at a very difficult time for many people, but it is prudent in terms of avoiding potentially larger rates increases in future years.”

Key changes from the draft annual plan include deferring irrigation and field improvements on Pembroke Park for a year to allow the next stage of the Wānaka Lakefront Development Plan to be completed sooner; reducing the scope of the Arthurs Point to Queenstown active travel route to reflect what is more realistic to deliver within the funding period; and increasing the budget for QLDC Planning and Development to improve service levels.

In addition, grants to the district’s Regional Tourism Operators have been increased to reinstate funding reduced in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic. The increases will enable Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism to implement their destination management plans based on regenerative tourism and a carbon zero visitor economy by 2030.

Councillors also confirmed a total of $180,000 in grants, plus an additional $177,000 funded from existing Council budgets, to community groups that applied as part of the consultation process.

“We’re delighted that 25 individual not-for-profit groups – nine more than last year – will benefit from Council grants to support their incredibly valuable work in our community,” said Mr Burns.

Business support organisation Startup Queenstown Lakes receives the largest combined grant of $175,000 with other recipients including Citizens Advice Bureau Queenstown, Upper Clutha Tracks Trust, Volunteer South – Central Lakes, and Queenstown Harvest Community Gardens.

During the consultation period for the draft Annual Plan between 24 March and 26 April, Council received 301 submissions (more than twice the number from last year), 30 of which were solely community grant applications.

In addition to a breakdown of budgets, rates allocation and community grants, the Annual Plan highlights the progress made on major capital projects such as the recently completed Queenstown town centre street upgrades, the new Luggate Memorial Centre, Wānaka’s highly anticipated Schools to Pool active transport route, the purchase of Mount Iron as a community reserve, and district-wide investment in three waters infrastructure.

Copies of the QLDC 2023-2024 Annual Plan will be available soon at Council offices and libraries. It is available to download now via the QLDC website.

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