Submission

Federated Farmers Submission for Horowhenua District Council Long Term Plan 2018-28

The Manawatu/Rangitikei Province of Federated Farmers submitted to the Horowhenua District Council on 26 March in response to their Draft Long Term Plan 2018.  A few of the key recommendations included:
1. Debt – we expressed our concerns about Council’s ever increasing levels of debt.  Over the last 15 years, debt has crept up from under $10 million to this year’s forecast of $78 million by June and a projected future debt of $157 million in 2036. As the previous four financial budgets have not held, we do not have confidence that this budget will either.
2. Proposed new infrastructure – wastewater and drinking water for ‘growth settlements’.  Given our concerns with Council’s debt, we did not support this proposal in its entirety.  Little detail is provided to enable a comprehensive analysis of the proposal and the indicative costs seem a bit exorbitant. 
3. Selling the Community Halls and building a new Community Centre in Shannon.  Council’s Community Hall/Centre proposal seemed to us a bit at odds.  While we supported Council’s proposals to sell the Community Halls in Foxton and Levin given they were earthquake prone, we couldn’t get our head around why Council would want to sell the Shannon Hall given it is in good condition, only to turn around and build a new Shannon Community Centre.  We asked Council to retain the Shannon Hall and enable the community to use it, ultimately saving the rate payer an unnecessary rate rise and not to mention keeping debt levels down.