Councillor's Corner - December 2012

Another year has passed, one that has made a great impact with earth quakes and tsunamis, financial turmoil, political instability, elections and a reorganization of the world as we know it.

At the Whangarei District Council we can look back at a year where a great number of projects were successfully finished.

Roading projects were finished and the new bridge has started, wastewater improvements are ongoing, town basin and our new art gallery and information center to name just a few, plus new strategies are in place for extension of the Mall, car parking, cycle and walkways and inner city development.

The Long Term Plan is about to be finalized and from March onwards we will be looking at submissions to this plan.

Nothing ever moves fast in the “Council” world, most decisions are compromises and come to fruition many years later, but we do get the odd fast results.

Looking back at the last year in Council I can report that sometimes I can be happy with progress and the shared vision, other times I wonder how much more hair I can loose and how much greyer I can get…I can tell you it can be quite a roller coaster ride and patience, whilst a virtue, can at times be found with great difficulty…

But at least when you sit around the table you have the opportunity to have a certain amount of influence about the outcome.

Not always straight forward, take the plan to have most of our “noisy” outdoor motor sports moved to one site in Hikurangi. We have a good bit of land there, and we need in the next decade “plan” for the inevitable shift of these activities.

However the increased traffic and possible noise pollution is not attractive to those that live nearby on Gomez Road, very understandable. Long term alternatives are not easily found, so if we can allay some of the negatives we might make some progress.

There is a cost associated with this and we need to make sure that the final outcome is one we can all live with, so a bit of give and take from all parties involved in the process…Democracy at work!

Sometimes we see this process as a hindrance and a negative, we even take it for granted…In other parts of the world people give their lives for this very process, and on that note it is sad to see a low turnout to our elections, more people didn’t vote than people who voted for the new government..

Our process may be flawed, but it is a hell of a lot better than even a benevolent dictatorship….even though sometimes….

For the next month our priorities will be elsewhere, let’s enjoy the coast and make the most of the holiday….after that there will be much more of the same, if we are lucky!

For those in business, let’s hope it is a long dry hot summer so we can survive the next winter!

Best wishes for the Christmas/New year period

JJ

Councillor's Corner - November 2012

A surge of activity before the Christmas break, or rather, the handbrake is being pulled on a significant amount of planned expenditure!

All the great plans we have dreamed up are being delayed in order to keep the debt levels to the level we have committed ourselves to.

The lack of property sales which were planned and subsequently the lack of cash has meant an adjustment to activities.

We probably didn’t get it quite right on the property sales front. What we thought as a Council (and our valuers) what the value of the property portfolio is, was not agreed to by those who wanted to purchase and their valuers.

The balance in looking after maximising the value for the ratepayers and  what the market is able to pay have not matched up....

As a result we go to arbitration to have the values set by an independent party which will take place in April and as a consequence of this property sales have been put on halt.

As a Council we have cut spending, however  the” let contracts” plus the highest priorities are still happening, the others have been delayed. We will still be spending over $50 million in Capex this year, which is in reality the level we have been spending on average in the last 5 years.

On another note, after 2 years of consultation and research we finally are in a position to alter the designation of the property 8-10 Dent Street to be able to offer the site for a Hotel development, a bit of infrastructure which is very much needed in the Whangarei District...

At least this door has been opened, no doubt it will be some years before anything will actually happen! One thing I am learning at Council, nothing goes fast!

Property owners on the Coast will have received their latest QV which will be used by Council to set your rates. Whilst a lot of residential properties have gone down about 10%, the commercial sector has gone down 7% and industrial a whopping 26%.

As the general rates collected (approx $47 million) are set in “silo’s”, (Residential 61%, commercial 29% and rural 10%) the fluctuations with the QV are set within these sectors.

In other words, just because your QV has gone down, that doesn’t mean your rates will go down!

Worst effects will be on commercial, where in that sector industrial has gone down more that 27%, the result will be that commercial will have to go up to compensate for this and achieve the same 29% of the general rates contribution!

If you are unhappy with your QV make sure you address this before the 20^th December with Quotable Value (0800 787 284)

On a brighter note, the sun is out and the summer is coming! A long Indian summer is my wish for the Coast, we need one after the last miserable 12 months!

Enjoy!

Councillor's Corner - April 2012

Debt and Progress?
The flurry of submissions to the 10 year plan is over, next time for deliberations and decisions...

For ratepayers it is important to know what is happening, how much we will spend and what the priorities are. No doubt you will have made your views known with your or your community’s submission!

Looking back, the debt has significantly increased in the last decade, we are now no 7 in the list of all 67 councils in NZ.

This is not always comparing apples with apples as some districts have invested heavily in infrastructure such as roads and sewerage whilst others may still face those costs.

The plan is to cap the debt for the next 10 years and keep them well inside the policy limits....watch this space!

Our debt per capita is no 17, our rates per capita are no 44 from the top.

Increases over the last decade were on average 10%, the new plan is planning to have them kept at 3.5 % per annum.

Over the next 10 Year the WDC is looking at spending close to $496 million in capital works, most on transportation, waste, drainage and water plus Parks and Recreation.

We should get our share of this on the coast as well, walking tracks, coastal structures etc that are an important part of why we live here!

The news is looking good for the District, with the NZ Refining company expanding and renewing and thereby creating up to a thousand jobs, the Oracle America’s Cup team stationed around Bream Bay, the inner city improvements with a new focus on “the water heart” and ongoing road improvements to our coast we may be in a better position to attract visitors (= business and jobs) to our coastal paradise.

But we will need to do better still, I’m worried to see the increase in “for lease” signs in downtown Whangarei, businesses are still struggling, no one is having an “easy” time!

All we need is to get a “normal” summer next year, I, for one, am truly sick of the swells and the easterlies that have been pounding our shores, seemingly relentlessly....if only council could fix that!