Draft Long Term Plan

The draft Long Term Plan for 2009-2019 has progressed to the stage of being available for public consultation. The dates for this consultation are 11 March to 24 April 2009.

The Auditor-General has given the plan an unqualified opinion, saying that the plan provides a reasonable basis for long term integrated decision-making by the District Council and for participation in decision-making by the public and subsequent accountability to the community.

Your elected members now look forward to receiving your views. To assist with this, a 16 page booklet will be published in a couple of weeks explaining the major matters, and six public meetings are scheduled in various parts of the District. You will also be able to download the plan from our website, and make a submission online. Your elected members are also happy to come and speak to your group if you wish to invite them.

The plan is constructed on the premise that existing levels of service across all activities will be maintained or enhanced.
 
Some of the major items in the draft plan are:

A Vision for the Stratford District – does the community wish to grow and what would be Council’s role with growth?

Water Upgrades – with signals that significant upgrades are required, but more information is required before the best solution is known. The costs of the upgrades could be as much as $9.5 million.

Farm – signals that Council may sell within five years if the circumstances are right, but the default position is to retain ownership unless circumstances demand otherwise.  The earliest sale date is 31 May 2010.

Rural Roads – signals that seal extension will cease in 2012/13 and the same amount of ratepayer monies expended on work to upgrade roads to enable forestry harvesting.

Swimming Pool – options for redevelopment have been developed and costed, but Council favours the minimum option of replacing the existing roof cladding as the aesthetic improvements of the other options are not justified by the costs.

Climate change, and especially the New Zealand Government’s approach to its international commitments, will have a significant impact on costs that are required to be passed on to ratepayers.

User Charges - The portion of revenue paid by direct users of services in comparison to subsidisation by the general ratepayer is being increased.  This will affect active users of services and keeps rates down.

Rating Policy - The 2008 district revaluation has impacted the distribution of the general rate as capital value alterations are different both from sector to sector, and within sectors.  These changes have been driven by the community and Council’s rating policy does not contain differentials to adjust such matters.

Economic Survey

It is great to see the Stratford Press get involved in following up the results of the survey, and starting discussions on the various points of view. The Council’s survey presented the views of a good number of consumers in Stratford. What each individual business does with that information is their choice.

The Council does agree with the businesses on one matter – the bypass – and has no plans to build one on purely economic grounds. A bypass would cost local ratepayers millions of dollars to construct.

The shop opening hours are a classic chicken and egg. If the streets are empty the shops will not open, and if the shops are closed the street will be empty. Who is willing to take the initiative?

The Council at its last meeting changed its local procurement policy to give local businesses a small pricing bias when competing with firms from outside the District. Whilst that means Council will not always buy things at the lowest cost, the positive economic benefits of buying local and keeping the money local are considered to outweigh the negatives.
 
Remember you can contact us if you have any issues or feedback – we want to hear from you. You can phone us on 06 7656099 or email me at ceo@stratford.govt.nz

Michael