Long-Term Plan 2012
Tuesday 19 June 2012, 12:40PM
221 views
Last Friday (15 June), Councillors concluded the Long-Term Plan deliberations with a projected rates rise of about 3.5 percent.
Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says the Long-Term Plan consultation has been a huge success and has attracted a record number of public submissions.
"And we've listened closely and been able to deliver additional funding for Te Papa, Miramar and Kilbirnie town centres, a partnership with the SPCA to progress the Chest Hospital project, and other projects we see bringing significant benefits to the city.
"They include city resilience and economic development projects, cultural grants, the development of cycle routes, improvements to public space in the central city and improved management of water networks to improve the health of our harbour and streams."
In response, the Strategy and Policy Committee has agreed to make a number of changes to the final plan including:
- returning funding for Te Papa to $2.25 million
- adding in funding for earthquake strengthening and renovation work on the Chest Hospital so that the SPCA can relocate there - the SPCA will fund over half the cost of the $900,000 project
- providing $525,000 in capital expenditure in 2014/15 for stage two of the Kilbirnie town centre upgrade, and $900,000 for an upgrade to the Miramar town centre next year
- bringing forward funding to upgrade roads in the Johnsonville town centre to meet the demands of the expansion of the Johnsonville Shopping Mall
- allocating $200,000 per year to support work to attract long-haul flight routes into Wellington
The Council also agreed to revise its encroachment policy, which is used to recover rentals from property owners who make use of Council road reserve, by reducing fees by 10 percent and allowing property owners to provide alternative valuations.
Additional projects are able to be funded as significant cost savings have been identified by the Councillor-led Financial Sustainability working party. Around $4 million in savings can be made by not funding the depreciation on about 5 percent of the city's assets.
Rates are not yet finalised as Councillors still have to consider and agree on funding for a replacement venue to the Town Hall, which requires earthquake strengthening. They will do this on Thursday.
The final version of the Long-Term Plan will be adopted by the Council on 27 June.
Related Links