Draft Long Term Plan 2024-34

The Long Term Plan 2024-34 was adopted on 9 July 2024. Thank you to everyone who participated in the consultation.

• LTP adopted - 9 July

  Council adopted its Long Term Plan 2024-34 and supporting documents after a robust audit review, and set the rates for the 2024/25 year on Tuesday 9 July. The final average rates increase for 2024/25 is 15.37% with an average rate increase of 4.3% for the remaining 9 years of the LTP.

  The adoption of the LTP follows 12 months of conversations with the community, elected member workshops, line by line budget reviewing, a month of consultation, hearing and deliberations and more recently the final audit.

  District Mayor Neil Volzke says this is the single most important document elected members are involved in, and one that demands a lot of staff time. “Looking out to the next 10 years and focusing on what needs to be done in the first 3, before we go through this process again, is a meaty piece of work. It involves many decisions, big and small, lots of debate and balancing community expectations against what’s realistic within the resources available to us.”

  “We’ve been up front about the rise in rates and reason behind it throughout this process, and like other councils across New Zealand, we’ve discussed what we’d have to lose to keep rates low.”

  “In the feedback process it was clear that our community doesn’t want to see Stratford go backwards. So we’ve done our best to land in a position that means we can maintain service levels while focusing on the betterment of our district for future generations.”

  The full LTP document will be online by the end of July, and approved capital projects as part of the LTP will be shared on YourSay.Stratford.govt.nz for community members to follow progress updates.

  SDC encourages residents to register on YourSay.Stratford.govt.nz to stay in the loop and be part of community engagement opportunities going forward.

  Key projects in years 1 to 3:

  • Demolition of the old TSB Pool Complex (2024/25)
  • Upgrades to Prospero Place (2024-2026)
  • Earthquake strengthening of TET Multi-Sports Stadium (2026/2027)
  • Replacement of the old raw water delivery line to the Stratford water treatment plant (2024-2026)

• Next steps in the process

  • All submitters will receive a written response from Council in the next few weeks.
  • The draft Long Term Plan now goes to Auditors for their review. This is estimated to take 6 weeks.
  • The Long Term Plan will then come back to Council for final consideration and adoption in early July 2024.
  • Rates will be set at the time of adoption and come into effect not long after that.

• Outcomes of submission hearing

  So, what were the outcomes of the deliberations?

  • Average rates increase for Year 1 slightly decreased from what was proposed to 15.48%
  • Strengthening of the TET Multi-Sport Stadium to enable the building to be used as a civil defence centre will begin in Year 3, 2026/27.
  • Strengthening of the War Memorial Centre to the minimum level required to no longer be considered earthquake prone and an earthquake risk will begin in Year 5, 2028/29
  • Any strengthening work on the Glockenspiel remains in the plan for year 10, 2033/34, which means there are 2 more Long Term Plan processes to go through before a final decision is made on that building.
  • Demolition of the old TSB Pool Complex facility will go ahead in Year 1, 2024/25.
  • Council’s road maintenance budget will match what’s required to retain the existing level of service, which means a 14% increase in the operational spend for year 1.
  • Replacement of the old raw water delivery line to the Stratford water treatment plant will begin in Year 1, 2024/25 and take 2 years to be completed.
  • The proposed Forestry Differential Roading Targeted Rate will go ahead as planned, increasing the amount collected to $350,000 and including blocks of forestry that are 10 hectares or more in size. For properties that are not primarily forestry but have a block of forestry at least 10 hectares in size, the rate is applied only to the portion of the property that is used for forestry, not to the whole property.
  • The Brecon Road Bridge project was brought forward from Year 4 to Year 2 on the condition that Waka Kotahi approve co-funding. Council will know the outcome of co-funding by the end of Year 1, 2024/25 to determine if the project can begin at the earlier time. If co-funding is not achieved this will be pushed back. There is no impact on rates in Year 1 or 2 of the plan with this amendment.
  • Some amendments to capital projects were made with budget carry over from the current financial year to 2024/25 and the current budget for print advertising was retained to continue the existing Central Link delivery.
  • A change in funding for three waters projects was made by reallocating external Better Off Funding to these projects. These were originally set at being loan funded.
  • The Town Centre Upgrade is now set at loan funding and reduced to $300,000 in Year 1 from $500,000.
  • Changes to the Fees and Charges schedule were made, including:
    • Removal of facsimile charges
    • Amending the Wai o Rua Swim School fee to include entry at $145 per term
    • Amending the full pool complex hire fee to include use of the multipurpose room
    • Decrease in cost for the commercial strip hire fee at the Aerodrome
    • Amendment to Licence to Occupy charge under Roading, moving from a land value based charge to a fixed fee.
    • Minor wording changes for consistency across other documents

  View the Hearing agenda including submissions received online here.

  Minutes of the meeting will be available online later this month.

• Submissions make 2 things clear for Council

  On Tuesday 14 May, Stratford District Council (SDC) elected members reviewed and deliberated on all 80 submissions received on the district’s draft Long Term Plan 2024-34.

  District Mayor Neil Volzke says, “Conversations with our community during the consultation period and the submissions we received made two things very clear. That a rate increase more than 15% is pretty hard to swallow, and that our community values the services we provide and does not want to see them reduced.”

  “These two key messages aligned well with the realistic and back to basics approach that guided our decision making through the development of this Long Term Plan,” says Mayor Volzke.

  During the proceedings, gratitude for those who took the opportunity to voice their thoughts was shared around the chamber from elected members.

  Deputy Mayor Min McKay who chaired the hearing says, “While submission numbers weren’t high, elected members were pleased to see a range of viewpoints that both challenged and supported the decisions that had gone into the draft LTP. We especially thank the 12 submitters who made themselves available to come and speak to their feedback as part of the hearing process.”

  “A variety of ideas and information from our community and beyond was included in the submissions, which had us discussing the ins and outs of the plan in great detail until late in the evening,” she says.

  Across the key issues presented in the Consultation Document, submissions overall showed support for strengthening the TET Multisport Stadium and War Memorial Centre, and leaving the Glockenspiel alone until further down the track. Retaining the existing level of service for road maintenance and increasing water infrastructure resilience by replacing the raw water delivery line to the water treatment plant also had community support.

  The TSB Pool Complex had a more divisive response on the plan of action, with just over half responding to the question keen to see it demolished, and the rest wanting either nothing done to it, or for a detailed seismic assessment carried out and expressions of interest invited from the community to repurpose it.

  Elected members debated the pros and cons of these options in detail, before eventually settling back on the original proposal to demolish in 2024/25 and return the area to grass. Any future development of the site would include consultation with the community at that point.

  Other key areas of interest from submitters included the Brecon Road Bridges project, the Forestry Differential Roading Targeted Rate, the state of our roads both local and the state highways managed by Waka Kotahi, cleaning up Broadway with a particular emphasis on shop frontages, Wai o Rua – Stratford Aquatic Centre services, and the importance of keeping rates down.

  Deputy Mayor McKay says, “We’ve worked hard to strike a balance between maintaining services to meet the expectations of our community and minimising rates increases as best as possible in the current financial climate.”

  “Not all submitters will be pleased with the outcome of our deliberations. But I want them to know that every thought and opinion shared with us through the submission process helps us to better understand the community we serve.”

  “Managing the push and pull, and finding a balance that we believe will be a positive outcome for the whole community, is what democracy is all about. I encourage everyone to take up the opportunities available to be part of community conversations and consultation processes as we move forward,” she says

• Opportunities to talk progress

  There's loads of opportunities to learn more and talk to key decision makers. Check out the below dates for public hui/meetings and casual conversation drop in sessions. You can also contact your local councillors direct to discuss.

  Public Meetings

  This will go for about an hour and a half. Council staff and councillors will be there to present on the draft plan, go onto detail about what's being proposed and be available for questions.

  Bring your friends and whānau, and come talk progress with us!

  Date	Time	Where
  Tuesday 9 April	3pm	Whangamomona Hall
  Tuesday 16 April	5.30pm	War Memorial Centre, Function Facility
  Tuesday 23 April	6pm	Whakaahurangi Marae

  
  

  Drop in sessions at the Library

  Drop into the Library during the below times to kōrero with councillors on the draft Long Term Plan (LTP) 2024-34.

  These sessions are an informal hour at the library where people can come and have a chat about the Long Term Plan. We'll put on the jug!

  Date	Time	Who's listening?
  Friday 12 April	2.30pm - 3.30pm	Councillors Ellen Hall and Grant Boyde
  Friday 19 April	10.30am - 11.30am	Deputy Mayor Min McKay and Councillor Amanda Harris
  Tuesday 23 April	11.30am - 12.30pm	Councillors Grant Boyde and Amanda Harris

  
  

  Prospero Market

  We'll also be at the Prospero Market on Saturday 27 April, 9am - 12noon.

  Come along for a chinwag while shopping local!

• Making a submission is easy

  Have your say by 1 May

  • Submit online - Visit Council’s website, stratford.govt.nz/LTP
  • Email submissions@stratford.govt.nz
  • Post to Long Term Plan 2024 – 2034 Submissions, Stratford District Council, PO Box 320, Stratford 4352
  • Drop into Council's Service Centre, Stratford District Council, 63 Miranda Street, Stratford

• Submissions open

  Our last LTP predicted an average rate increase of 4.96% for 2024/25. In this draft plan the proposed increase is sitting at 15.5% for the same year, with a proposed rates limit of 7% for all remaining years.

  In the Consultation Document we dig into what’s driving this significant increase for year 1 and outline our plan of action on key priority areas to ‘keep the beat’ going in the heart of Taranaki.

  District Mayor, Neil Volzke says the rate increase is at a level no one wanted. “Being in the double digits hurts, and we know it won’t be welcomed by our ratepayers. But we believe we’ve done everything we can to get the rates down without lowering key service levels and jeopardising future progress for our district.”

  “When we started working on the LTP we were facing a potential 30% increase. This was to include everything we felt our community had asked for in terms of service levels and key projects. To cut that in half, we’ve had to consider a more ‘back to basics’ approach which means minimising spending on nice-to-have projects, reducing budgets where possible, and focusing on maintaining the core essentials.”

  “We needed to be realistic, and to be frank we just can’t afford everything. We’re not alone in this, districts up and down the country are grappling with increasing costs and the difficult task of paying for these which directly impacts on rates. Our proposed rate increase has come out slightly under the national average.”

  “For some context when reading through our proposed LTP, a 1% rate increase equals approximately $160,000 in our budget.”

  “It’s been a long road to get to this point, and now we need our community to step up and make their submissions. We want to know if people think we can save more? What are they willing to lose to keep rates down? Do they agree with our top priorities and our proposed plan of action for these?”

  “Please do take the opportunity to share your views, attend our public meetings or get in touch with us to talk more,” says Neil.