Scope of Major NPDC Review Confirmed

A comprehensive review of the services New Plymouth District Council provides as well as their costs has been approved by the Council tonight (Tuesday).

The Activity and Service Review will be completed by December so that the results can feed into the preparation of next year’s Annual Plan.

Mayor Harry Duynhoven says the aim of the review is to achieve substantial and sustainable savings in both operational and capital costs.

“The public’s concerns about the cost of local government were heard clearly during the Draft Long-Term Plan hearings in June, which has led to this review,” he says.

The scope of the review entails examining:

• Whether the Council should continue to be involved in all of its current activities and services.
• The appropriateness of current levels of service, including those that underpin asset management plans.
• Potential alternative service delivery options for activities and services. These include in-house, business units, council-controlled organisation (CCO) trusts, contracting, shared services and corporatisation.
• A detailed analysis of financial information and budgets. This will include analysing the year on year movements in rates over the past five years and the first five years of the Long-Term Plan 2012-2022 to explain movements beyond CPI; analysing the costs of services during the same timeframe and why the costs have changed; and reviewing year on year movements of all major cost items.

 

The review will be conducted by the Council through a Councillor Working Party, which will work with managers and external experts as required.