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Testing rates meeting cuts back budgets

Janine Rankin janine.rankin@stuff.co.nz

Palmerston North’s total council rates increase has been pared down from a proposed 8.3% to a likely 5.8% after two days of item-by-item debate on dozens of spending lines.

Mayor Grant Smith said the thorough debate had been needed in light of the overwhelming theme of submissions telling councillors that people would find the increase unaffordable.

Deputy mayor Aleisha Rutherford said many of the personal stories people told about finding the prospect of the increases stressful were ‘‘confronting and challenging’’.

The increase was going to be 20% or more for some ratepayers whose residential land values had more than doubled in the past three years, resulting in larger increases for them.

Council staff are likely to provide a better indication of what various changes made to the rating structure, along with the budget cuts, will mean for groups of ratepayers by June 15.

Acting chief executive Chris Dyhrberg said at the start of the twoday meeting the budget was one of the hardest ever tackled.

But the one thing he did not want councillors to cut was a budget to help attract and retain staff.

He said his greatest challenge was to ensure there were enough good staff employed to ensure plans could be delivered, and service levels could be met.

Staff also needed a better quality working environment than offices with 30-year-old furniture to ensure it was a place where they wanted to work.

But councillors took a different view on the staff remuneration package, pegging it back by $2 million from the $6.792m sought.

Cr Karen Naylor, who led the charge on many of the proposals for cuts, often supported by the mayor, said a 13% increase in the remuneration budget had to be balanced against the ability of residents to pay for it.

The reduction meant a ‘‘more moderate’’ 9% increase.

Smith supported the move. He said the council was carrying 126 vacancies, which would not be filled by the start of the 2022/23 financial year.

‘‘We will still be rating for a whole lot of empty seats.’’

However, Rutherford opposed cutting the remuneration budget. Every week she heard about people applying for jobs at the council, then walking away when they found out what the pay was like. Others were leaving because they could get better paid jobs elsewhere.

Rutherford said remaining staff were under stress, covering vacant roles in an acting capacity, as well as trying to do their own jobs.

The councillors voted 8-7 with one abstention in favour of the $2m cut.

Another big saving was the recommendation to defer the $2.9m Streets for People project to upgrade the street around Te Marae o Hine/ The Square from Main St, outside the old Post Office building, to Broadway Ave.

Naylor said 25 submitters had commented against the project, and Smith said to advance it next year would be ‘‘out of sync’’ with other likely developments in the area.

Cr Leonie Hapeta said she was a firm supporter of the project, but it was time to ‘‘take a breath’’ and reconsider the design.

But it was not all about cuts. Some extra spending was included, including $150,000 to manage roading to deter and clean up after boy racer meetings, a boost to footpath maintenance, and an additional $34,000 to continue the council’s full funding of the city ambassador safety programme in Te Marae o Hine.

Councillors have also asked for further staff reports following a petition signed by more than 500 people wanting Vogel St made safer, and a submission asking for a right-turn traffic light arrow and safety improvements at the Botanical Rd/ College St intersection.

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https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281483575006186

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