Cash surplus to decrease rates
7 February 2017
Waipa District Councillors have agreed to use a cash surplus from the last financial year to reduce the impact on next year's rates.
At today's Strategic Planning and Policy Committee meeting, Councillors agreed to use $570,000 of a $891,000 cash to reduce district-wide rates for 2017/18.
It means the Council will go out to the public by March with a proposed two per cent rate increase for the next financial year. This compares to a 3.1 per cent increase originally projected.
Mayor Jim Mylchreest said the smaller-than-expected rates increase will not necessarily mitigate the impact of independent property valuations, particularly for high value residential properties, residential properties with multiple dwellings, or properties that were extensively developed last year.
Valuations from Quotable Value saw the capital value of Waipa properties increase last year by an average of 23.1 per cent. Residential property saw the biggest jump.
The fact is that some properties have significantly increased in value by more than the average 23.1 per cent. And that will impact on the rates those properties pay, he said.
Apart from the proposed rates reduction, very few changes are proposed to what was always planned for next year.
It's really just business as usual. There are some reasonably minor changes proposed to the timing of some capital projects. But there's not a lot of difference to what we discussed with the community when consulting on our 10-Year Plan.
Given that, the Council had decided to actively seek community feedback in a less formal way.
We aren't required to formally consult on next year's work programme. But there was a very strong view within Council that we should proactively seek feedback from the community before making decisions and locking in next year's budget, Mylchreest said.
If people have any projects they want considered or want to make any comment, we will have a mechanism in place to do that. So people will still be able to raise any issues and put forward their ideas and all that will go into the mix before final decisions are made.
For more information, contact: Jeanette Tyrrell 027 507 7599