Tasman will see an 11.1 per cent rates hike as the council forges ahead with investments into community facilities.

The increase was confirmed in a Tasman District Council meeting on Thursday afternoon as councillors signed off the organisation’s 10-Year Plan.

Councils across the country are forecasting significant rates rises as costs rise, but Tasman has landed on an increase lower than the national average of 16 per cent.

“I think we have found a reasonable balance in difficult circumstances,” said Mayor Tim King.

While large investments are being made into critical water and roading infrastructure over the next decade, councillors said the next few years were about “investing in people”.

Several community facilities are slated to be delivered over the coming years.

Brightwater, Tapawera, and Wakefield will see new or improved community hubs while Motueka will finally get the pool that residents have been seeking for decades.

Murchison is also slated to get an upgrade for its Sport, Recreation and Cultural Centre.

Councillor Christen Mackenzie said that the forecast investments into Tasman’s smaller towns had left a “buzz” among residents.

“People are talking about it, and it’s energised the community. I actually find that you can feel proud of the community in that.”

Councillor Trindi Walker also added that while not everyone in the community will agree on what the council was planning, the community feedback had been generally supportive.

“We heard their voice. They don’t want the level of our service to decline, they don’t want our libraries to be reduced in hours, or for us to lose any of our staff,” she said.

“Although I don’t like going out and asking anybody to pay the rates that we’re going to have to set, it’s the reality of what we face.”

Mark Greening was the only councillor to vote against Tasman’s 10-Year Plan and was scathing of its contents.

“We are emptying ratepayer pockets faster than they can fill them. This is unaffordable.”

While supportive of investments into critical infrastructure, he said the plan was neither balanced nor financially prudent, and failed to respond to the $100 million Waimea Community Dam “blowout”.

“Instead, we appeared to have stuck our heads in the sand as if nothing had happened and continue to spend millions more on probably less critical infrastructure – pool and hall projects.”

He took aim at the council’s decision to introduce a dynamic debt cap which increases relative to council revenue, and the forecast growth of the council’s debt to $452 million by 2034.

“While I support providing community assets, that support is dependent on a healthy financial bottom line and we just do not have that,” he said.

“This council needs to live in financial reality rather than constantly moving its own goalposts as it pretends everything is okay.”

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