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 20th 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!
