Kaipara District Council has formally adopted its Long Term Plan (LTP) for the next three years, in a council meeting held at Tangiteroria Sports Complex held last week.

A number of council decisions since deliberations held in May meant that the final average rates increases dropped down to 8.9% after growth for each of the three years.

Kaipara District Council Mayor Craig Jepson said council had worked hard on a three year plan which was focused on recovery from the extreme weather events and delivering the best services it could for the Kaipara community.

Mayor Jepson acknowledged that “our community is feeling the pressure of a cost-of-living crisis, price escalations, high interest rates and an economic downturn. We heard from our ratepayers about their need for rates affordability.”

“Through the work of staff and elected members we have smoothed average rates increases across the three year LTP period, keeping the average below 9%, whilst still maintaining core services and work programmes.”

Kaipara District Council Chief Executive Jason Marris says elected members have set clear direction and priorities for staff to work to for the next three years.

“KDC staff come to work with a passion to do the best they can for our community. We are a small council in the scheme of things but we are also nimble and get things done. We are focused on working hard to deliver on making Kaipara – the place to be!”

Some changes include a new targeted rate for parks and libraries. Previously, this had been paid for through general rates, which means that the charge to ratepayers varied depending on their land value. Every ratepayer will now pay the same amount, regardless of land or capital value of their property. Council decided to separate the CCTV targeted rate between the Ruawai and greater Dargaville areas that it used to collect as one rate on behalf of the Dargaville Community Development Board.

Council also agreed not to collect targeted rates on behalf of the Mangawhai Museum or Dargaville Sportsville. Instead, staff will investigate potential future funding support for the Mangawhai Museum, Kauri Museum and Dargaville Museum as part of the 2025/2026 Annual Plan process.

Final digital and print versions of the Long Term Plan 2024–2027 will soon be available at kaipara.govt.nz and council offices and libraries across the district.

Kaipara District Council Long Term Plan 2024–2027

The Long Term Plan (LTP) sets the strategic direction and work programme for the years ahead. It outlines the services we will provide, the projects we will undertake, the cost of doing this work, how it will be paid for and how we will measure our performance. Our LTP also incorporates a range of financial policies.

Kaipara District suffered major, long-lasting damage to its critical infrastructure during the extreme weather events of 2023. Normally a long term plan looks ten years ahead, but because of the significant impact to Kaipara, Government offered changes via the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery acts. We are one of eight councils around Aotearoa New Zealand able to adopt a three-year, unaudited long term plan with a focus on recovery.

The council discussion and decision can be viewed on the Kaipara District Council YouTube channel at 47:11.

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