Consultation begins on Council's plan for next year

The chance for people to have a say on Gisborne District Council’s plan for the next financial year begins tomorrow (Saturday 27 February 2010). A draft plan for 2010/2011 was approved by Council today (Thursday 25 February 2010) to go out for consultation. To ensure residents and ratepayers have a chance to give feedback, a brochure about what is in the plan will be in resident’s letterboxes next week (1-5 March). Ratepayers who live outside of the district will be mailed a copy or can access it from Council’s website.

Copies of the full draft plan are available from Council’s website, HB Williams Memorial Library, Customer Service in Fitzherbert Street and Te Puia Springs and in your local community.

A series of 22 Community Update meetings begin on Tuesday (2 March 2010) in Elgin at Te Wananga o Aotearoa at 5.30pm. This will be followed by a meeting at Waikirikiri School for the Kaiti community on Wednesday 3 March at 6.30pm. From there Waipiro Bay and Tokomaru Bay communities will be updated followed by the rural communities of Tiniroto, Patutahi, Manutuke, Whatatutu and Te Karaka.

Council staff will be attending the Flea Market and Farmers Market on Saturday 13 March. Copies of the plan will be available and staff will be able to outline what is in the plan, and take service requests.
Attending all meetings will be Mayor Meng Foon or Deputy Mayor Nona Aston. They will be accompanied by your local Councillors and senior staff members all prepared to answer any questions community members may have about the council’s draft plan and how it will affect rating levels.

At all Community Update meetings those attending will get a progress report about any issues that were raised at the meeting last year and also any projects Council is planning that will affect their community.

“The plan reflects a business as usual year for Council. It is year two of our Ten Year Plan and there are few major projects due to be implemented. Most have been pushed out to later in the ten year cycle as council concentrates on completing it’s largest ever project the city’s new wastewater treatment plant. The draft plan is budgeted to cost $71M. Council will collect over half of the cost - $45.3M - from rates. This will require an increase in total rates income of $2.6M, a 6.1% proposed increase from last year. This is less than the 6.4% increase for 2011 predicted in Council’s Ten Year Plan. Some tight budgeting and a competitive contracting market as well as the efforts of staff have helped to minimise rate increases for next year,” says Chief Executive Lindsay McKenzie.

“Council genuinely wants to know what communities think of the council’s plan. The consultation process gives people a chance to highlight anything missing. They can also comment on the affordability of what we are proposing, and let us know what priority they place on our services. Importantly it is also an opportunity to report back on the work communities asked for when we last met. Following the public consultation period we will make a final decision on the level of rates in late June,” Mr McKenzie added.

How to have your say?

Before 4.00pm on Friday 26 March you can…
1. Attend one of the Council’s 22 Community Update meetings in March
2. Complete the online submission form on Council’s website www.gdc/govt.nz
3. Complete the submission form that is at the back of the brochure which will be in your letterbox next week.
4. Call Customer Service on 06 867 2049 (or 0800 653 800) for East Coast residents and they will complete a submission for you.
5. Place a comment on any news story or in the “have you say” section of the Council’s website
6. Speak to Council during the hearings process. This must be indicated on the submission form.

Why make a submission?

It is important that those who pay for and benefit from Council Services have some input into what they get for their money.
1. All submissions are forwarded to the appropriate Council manager who summarise them by topic into an officers report. All submissions and officers reports will be available on Council’s website from 23 April 2010.
2. All Officer Reports go to Councillors prior to meeting for the hearings process.
3. The Hearings Process is held on 5 and 6 May 2010. This is when people can speak to council about what they have put in there submission.
4. Council considers and debates all feedback they have received. Changes are made to the draft plan based on the outcome of these debates.
5. The annual Plan is adopted on 24 June 2010
6. Anyone who makes a submission on the Annual Plan will be informed in writing about any decision made that related to their submission.