The annual plans issued by the Waikato District Council are always a bit of a challenge to understand and the draft 2010/2011 draft is no exception. The Council prepares its plans along the functional lines of its own management structure rather according to the needs of its ratepayers and residents. And then for some activities it provides a breakdown by area while for others there is no breakdown. And some projects budgeted in previous plans, but not completed yet, do not show even though they will be completed in the 2010/2011 year. For example, for the past year, Council’s website has been saying, “The library catalogue will be online soon”. This was a project started in the 2008/2009 year and one is left wondering if it will ever be finished although the draft plan says it will be completed, ‘early in 2010’. And Council’s proposed Raglan Information Centre & Museum is also not mentioned in the plan, but it was budgeted a few years ago. and I understand that Council is proceeding with this project. And the projects from future budgets such as the new building for the Te Kauwhata library costing $744,000 are brought forward from the budget for the 2012/2013 year.
The draft 2010/2011 annual plan was released on the 22nd March and submissions may be made on the plan until 23rd April. Council is proposing to increase rates by 2.96% to cover proposed increases in expenditure.
While the Raglan area appears to do well from the plan, closer analysis reveals that a large proportion of the expenditure is on costly projects to seal gravel roads in remote areas. Starting off with the list of grants, the Raglan Information Centre receives $96,411 although this is called a ‘contract’, presumably a contract with the Waikato Enterprise Agency who run the Raglan Information Centre. And $14,405 is proposed for the discretionary fund managed by the Raglan Community Board.
In the area of Water & Facilities, $5,812 is budgeted for dune protection at Ocean Beach and once again Whaingaroa Harbourcare is being contracted to supply plants for $11,000. There is mention of a Sunny Dunny at Wainui Beach. Strange- in one line the beach is called Ocean Beach and then in the next it is called Wainui Beach. The real name of the beach is Ngarunui Beach. And presumably Raglan may see a few new rubbish bins with $5,812 budgeted across the district. Improvements to walkways can be expected around Raglan with $78,911 budgeted although there is no mention of which walkways will be built or improved. And another $90,640 is to be spent on Wainui Reserve projects.
Moving on to Property, we learn that $17,476 is budgeted on renewal of the Raglan Service Centre. For Solid Waste Management, $113,740 is budgeted for kerbside recycling in Raglan. The cost of running the Raglan Refuse Transfer Station was previously available but has now been hidden in a District wide figure. And for Storm Water emergency work the amount budgeted for Raglan is $45,540 with the same figure on upgrading the ‘stormwater network’, and another $56,925 for work associated with development projects. Surface flooding is a problem in many areas of Raglan so this work will be appreciated by those living in the areas where wok will occur- although we are not told in the draft where the work will be done.
Wastewater is a big area of expenditure for Raglan with a new pumping station and main in Lorenzen Bay ($51,750 and $358,628 budgeted for replacement of other rising mains. The other big ticket item is the Whale Bay wastewater project with a allowance of $358,628. And, ‘Additional Pump Storage’ gets $163,012. Water Supply sees some other costly items listed with $144,287 on water main renewal and $119,542 on water meters for raglan.
The Waikato Council really gets into gear for big expenditure on the item closest to its heart- sealing gravel roads. A massive $2,311,192 is budgeted for this work with an indication that some of it might be spent on sealing Ruapuke Road.
Public Transportation is not forgotten though with $90,640 budgeted to subsidise the Raglan to Hamilton bus service. And across the District, $25,675 will be spent on installing bus shelters.
The Draft reveals that Council’s investments in its Strada road works company and in the Waikato Airport are doing poorly with projected returns of 4.5% and 3.3% respectively.
And when the draft plan comes to the end of the sections on funded projects, there is as usual a long list of wished for projects including Raglan bike tracks, walkways and a heated swimming pool for Raglan.
In the main the expenditure is funded from rating income and reserves from earlier income. Council is borrowing $5.6 million but is paying back a loan of $2.8 million, giving a net increase in loans of $2.8 million or 9% of the capital expenditure. i.e. Just a bit more that Council is planning to spend on sealing gravel roads. Slightly more So the Waikato District Council is continuing its practice of prudent financial management.