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Council decisions keep things moving

Friday 28 May 2010, 8:40AM

By Franklin District Council

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AUCKLAND

After the Council meeting held on 27 May, there are only four full meetings of Franklin District Council before local authority elections in 9 October, followed by the disestablishment of the Council and partition of Franklin District on 1 November.

Franklin Mayor, Mark Ball commented “I am pleased to report that your council is making every effort to leave the district in the best possible shape for the future. At today’s meeting we adopted the 2010/11 Annual Plan. It will be implemented for four months by Franklin District and eight months by the successor councils. We also adopted a draft Transport Strategy and brought forward an important stormwater project for Pukekohe South.”

2010/11 Annual Plan Adopted
This plan is for the last four months of Franklin District Council, the following eight months will be completed by either, the new Auckland Council, Waikato District Council or Hauraki District Council. Your rates for the whole year are set by this plan and the average district wide rate increase of 4.2% is less than was predicted in our Long Term Plan. This year all properties in the district have been revalued and this will cause some changes to your rates, depending on the valuation. It is worth noting that when the first rate account is sent out, GST will be charged at 12.5%. However, payments made after 1 October will attract GST at 15%. You may wish to consider paying your rates in full before 1 October.

Pukekohe South Stormwater Works west of Manukau Road
Approval was given to bring forward funds from 2011/12 to 2010/11 to install new stormwater pipes Nelson Street area and to undertake erosion protection work in the downstream open channel west of Manukau Road. This will relieve flooding on 56 properties, and enable business land west of Manukau Road to be developed.

Transport Strategy
Council adopted a draft Integrated Transport Strategy (with six action plans) for consultation with the community. Once adopted (planned for August) these documents will be a valuable guide to Franklin District issues for the successor authorities when they take over in November.

Waiuku War Memorial Town Hall
A report on the future of the Waiuku War Memorial Hall was considered and discussed at length. Council has asked staff to seek expressions of interest from community groups for managing the halls, and to report back to the August Council meeting with firm proposals.