For our district to be a vibrant, progressive place we must continue to look ahead and make future-focussed decisions.

While there is a lot of uncertainty in the current environment, we have to plan ahead based on the information we have available. An example of this is our three waters infrastructure - while we may not know what the government’s proposal means for us just yet, we know we must continue to make improvements to our water and waste water infrastructure to meet the new national standards. 

We need to strike a balance between what is affordable and essential in these uncertain times, and what we really need to progress with to ensure this district remains not just a well-serviced community, but a place that puts people at the heart of everything we do. We believe we have developed a plan that will do that. 

We’ve had to grapple with some complex issues but we’ve kept affordability front and centre. Removing and deferring projects, and changing how we account for some of our assets in a bid to keep costs down. In some areas, we have no choice but to proceed to meet legal requirements. We will look after what we’ve got and make the most of our community assets and facilities, and maintain services critical to our community. 

Volunteers significantly benefit our community and Council will support some of these groups through grants so they can continue to do work that often goes unseen. 

After weighing up your feedback, we’ve agreed on the areas we need to and should progress over the next ten years. In 2024/2025, that requires an additional $7.7 million in rates and an average of $2.3m for the years following. This has been a very challenging plan to develop and it has been important to understand the views of the community as we made these critical decisions for our community. To the people who made submissions, thank you for taking the time to test our thinking on the things we must do or should do, and letting us know whether we’re on the right track.