Council Agenda Report 086/20 Attachment 1
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MASTERTON DISTRICT COUNCIL COUNCIL AGENDA WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2020 REPORT 086/20 ATTACHMENT 1 ANNUAL PLAN 2020/21 MAHERE Ā-TAU 2020/21 CONTENTS NGĀ IHIRANGI [To be updated] Overview............................................................................................... [Insert page no.] Message from the Mayor and Chief Executive............................... [Insert page no.] Purpose of the Annual Plan........................................................... [Insert page no.] Strategic direction........................................................................[Insert page no.] Your Council..................................................................................[Insert page no.] Council committee structure........................................................[Insert page no.] What you get for your rates dollar................................................ [Insert page no.] Our plan in brief.............................................................................[Insert page no.] Where the money comes from...................................................... [Insert page no.] What’s happening this year........................................................... [Insert page no.] Council activities.................................................................................[Insert page no.] Community wellbeing...................................................................[Insert page no.] Roads, streets, footpaths and parking areas...............................[Insert page no.] Water supplies (urban and rural) ..................................................[Insert page no.] Wastewater services...................................................................[Insert page no.] Stormwater.................................................................................[Insert page no.] Solid waste management............................................................[Insert page no.] Community facilities and parks...................................................[Insert page no.] Regulatory services.....................................................................[Insert page no.] Governance and corporate services............................................[Insert page no.] Financial information..........................................................................[Insert page no.] Forecast financial statements.....................................................[Insert page no.] Benchmarks................................................................................ [Insert page no.] Funding impact statement..........................................................[Insert page no.] Revenue and financing policy......................................................[Insert page no.] Rating funding impact statement................................................[Insert page no.] Changes to our schedule of fees and charges......................................................[Insert page no.] 2 OVERVIEW HE TIROHANGA WHĀNUI 3 MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE TE KARERE NĀ TE KOROMATUA ME TE TUMUAKI E ngā iwi, e ngā mātāwaka o Whakaoriori, tēnā koutou katoa. We would like to introduce Masterton District Council’s Annual Plan that outlines our key projects and activities for the 2020/21 financial year. We cannot look forward to the year ahead without first looking back to what the first half of 2020 has brought us. COVID-19 came just as we were consulting on what we thought our year ahead looked like, and our plans needed to change. We’ve taken the time to understand the possible impact of COVID-19 on our community and adjust our plans to ensure we can support our collective rebound from COVID-19. The most positive contribution we could make was moderating the planned rates increase for the coming year. We’ve been very careful to adjust our plans, and reduce spending, to cut the planned rates increase from an average of 6 per cent, to now only 2 per cent. It’s pleasing to be able to do this without increasing our borrowing. Our ability to reduce the planned rates increase was positively impacted by our decision around the future of Henley Lake. Our decision not to pursue a consent to take water from the Ruamāhunga River for Henley Lake during times of low flow has removed $350,000 of expenditure from rates. In addition to reducing spending, we’ve also looked for opportunities to support our community in other ways. We want Masterton to be a vibrant, family-friendly place that people want to come and visit, and potentially relocate to, so that our local businesses can thrive. That’s why we’ve decided to invest in a full revamp of our skatepark. The facility on Dixon Street is well-used, but is tired – it will be exciting to see it given a new lease on life. Our other big decision for the year ahead was the future of Masterton’s Town Hall. We’ve made the exciting decision to proceed with a multi-purpose facility, encompassing a Town Hall, for Masterton. Over the next year we’ll be progressing design plans to start to bring this vision to life. Much of our focus over the year ahead will be supporting the whole region’s recovery from COVID-19. We’ve set aside funding to support this and continue immediate measures we put in place such as free parking until the end of August. The year ahead will be different to any other, but we are prepared. It’s heartening to be able to adapt to changing circumstances and deliver a forward-looking plan that will not only support recovery, but also continuing delivery of great services and assets for the Masterton community. Ngā mihi, 4 5 PURPOSE OF THE ANNUAL PLAN TE HOAKETANGA O TE MAHERE Ā TAU Every three years we develop a Long-Term Plan (LTP) in consultation with our community. This sets our vision, direction, budgets and work programme for a ten year period. The annual plan outlines how we will progress our Long-Term Plan in the coming year. In 2018, Masterton District Council adopted its 2018-28 Long-Term Plan. The 2020/21 Annual Plan is year three of that 10 year plan. While the Long-Term Plan provides a blueprint, things can change. For the two years between each Long-Term Plan, Council therefore develops an Annual Plan. This provides an opportunity to review our work programme and enables flexibility to respond if changes are needed. The purpose of the Annual Plan is to: Describe Council’s activities for 2020/21 and the associated costs and funding; Demonstrate links between activities planned and the community outcomes of the Masterton district; Provide integrated decision-making and coordination of Council’s resources; and Provide a basis for accountability of the Council to the community. Each year we also produce an Annual Report which is our key accountability document. The Annual Report lets you know how well we performed against what was set in the Long-Term and Annual Plan. It outlines key decisions that were made, how we performed financially and against the performance measures that we set in the Long-Term Plan. Copies of the 2018-28 Long-Term Plan and past Annual Reports are available from our Customer Service Centre on 161 Queen Street, Masterton or on our website www.mstn.govt.nz [INSERT PLANNING CYCLE GRAPHIC in design version] 6 ANNUAL PLAN CONSULTATION TRANSLATION TO COME When we reviewed our work programme for 2020/21 against what we had planned for year three in the 2018-28 Long Term Plan, we identified changes that we wanted our community’s feedback on. These included decisions relating to: 1. Investment in a shared, multi-purpose Civic Centre and demolition of the existing Town Hall building that was identified as earthquake prone in 2016. 2. Water availability for Henley Lake given the consent for water take needs to be renewed, and 3. A skatepark revamp that youth helped to design. Council also consulted on proposed Fees and Charges for the 2020/21 year. Our consultation document “Making it Happen” included a proposed average rate increase of 6%. This was primarily a result of increasing costs for delivering Council services such as roads, water, rubbish and recycling. Consultation on the Plan ran from 16 March – 20 April 2020. With New Zealand moving into Alert Level 4 during this period, Council had to adapt its intended consultation approach. We encouraged online submissions and also received submissions verbally over the telephone. Additional print and social media advertising was undertaken in place of planned face to face sessions, including outlining our proposed plans in the free weekly newspaper that is delivered to households in the district. In total, 332 submissions were received – the highest number of submissions on an Annual Plan in recent years. Almost half of the submitters provided written submissions or commentary, and 20 chose to speak to Council about their submissions at the Hearings that were held via Zoom on 6 May 2020. Many comments referred to or reflected the emerging situation with Covid‐19 and the economy. Key themes overall were: Concerns regarding affordability and future uncertainty, especially in light of Covid‐19 and economic impacts of the pandemic. A strong call for Council to: o review expenditure to freeze, or at least minimise, rate increases. o reprioritise projects and/or defer major projects/expenditure for now; and o consider the potential implications of Covid‐19 and the economic climate when making final decisions regarding the 2020/21 Annual Plan. All submissions, comments and feedback, as well as staff advice and new information, such as the emerging situation