We submitted last month on the Council’s draft Annual Plan and urged the Council not to increase its rates for the coming year, if at all possible.
We highlighted to the Council that their forward-planning must also take into account a few central government initiatives to reform our water quality standards and the management of indigenous biodiversity. We told them these initiatives will incur substantial economic costs, for the council and for its rural ratepayers, and we urged them to seek more funding from central government rather than placing the financial burden on ratepayers.