Kāpiti Coast District Council has agreed fees and charges for 2024/25 as part of its Long-term Plan (LTP) 2024-34 deliberations.

Kāpiti Coast District Mayor Janet Holborow said most fees and charges increases have been held at the 2.9 percent inflation factor used by local government.

“While we are in the difficult position of trying to play catch-up in a few areas we recognise that increasing fees and charges at this time will only place further strain on our community.

“It’s a big ask which is why Councillors rejected the proposal to increase rents for tenants in our older persons’ housing units by 15 to 30 percent.

“We’ve also agreed to keep fees and charges for hall hire at the current level plus 2.9 percent inflation.

“This is a shift away from what was proposed in the consultation document and responds to some of the concerns we heard through the submissions and hearings process.

“However, it is acknowledged that we do need to look at a more sustainable funding model to keep pace with maintenance costs and the private to public funding ratios required under council policies but right now we are comfortable with where we’ve landed.”

Mayor Holborow said the council received 371 submissions and heard from 51 people at hearings on the consultation.

“We’re very grateful to the people who took the time to submit and also to those who attended drop-in sessions to talk to elected members and staff,” Mayor Holborow said.

She said high quality, thoughtful submissions had prompted councillors to ask for further information on additional options for some key change proposals in the consultation document.

This included how it funds the $4.7 million funding shortfall to fully cover the costs of delivering three waters services (drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater) in 2024/25.

Council will meet again on Thursday 30 May to continue its deliberations with a view to confirming final changes to the Long-term Plan ahead of the formal adoption of the Long-term Plan 2024-24 on 27 June.

Mayor Holborow said she was pleased with how the deliberations were progressing, with Council agreeing to adopt a range of key policies it sought feedback on through the consultation process and resolving not to introduce a new climate action rate in response to feedback from the community.

“Decisions around how we meet the three waters funding shortfall will have a bearing on the proposed average rates increase for 2024/25 so it’s important that we take the time to fully understand the implications of what we decide,” she said.

She said Council remains steadfast on the need to build the district’s resilience to enable the community to respond and recover quickly to any unforeseen major disaster but is acutely aware of the need to keep rates as low as possible for households in the current economic climate.

“It’s not an easy task but I’m confident that we’ll land in the right place when we meet this week.”

NOTES: 

Video recordings of Council meetings are posted on ourYouTube channelwithin three working days. You can watch a livestream of the LTP meeting on 30 May at www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/meetings. The agenda will also be published on that page a few days ahead of the meeting.

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