Federated Farmers Submission on the Waitaki District Draft Annual Plan 2016
Approach to consultation - Federated Farmers supports Council’s approach to consultation on the draft Annual Plan, in particular the concise explanation around how each activity or project is funded.
Proposed rates increase - Federated Farmers congratulates council for achieving an overall rates increase of 0.2%.
Proposed rates offsetting - Federated Farmers supports council’s preferred option for use of the Whitestone Contracting dividend; that it is used to offset rates across the district.
We consider reducing the impact of rates a priority over spending on additional projects.
We agree that the surplus reserve funds should be used for Oamaru ratepayers only, given these reserves would have been taken through targeted rates for the specific purpose of funding this infrastructure.
Proposed projects - Federated Farmers supports council’s proposed projects, providing these and any further spending adopted through the annual plan consultation process do not significantly increase proposed rates.
We particularly support the proposed spending on a Review of Council services, Regulatory services improvements and the Palmerston Medical Centre.
For more, please see the full submission