Consultation on Tauranga draft Long-term Plan 2021-31 open

2:06 pm on 7 May 2021

Tauranga residents are being urged to have their say on what is being called the "most important long-term plan in recent history".

Tauranga Photo: Tauranga City Council

Consultation on the plan opens today.

The Tauranga City Council said in a written statement the city faced major challenges because of historical under-investment, contributing to problems such as traffic congestion, a housing shortage, and overburdened or inadequate community facilities.

Commissioners took over at the dysfunctional city council earlier this year to help get the city back on track.

The proposals are outlined in the draft Long-term Plan 2021-31, which set out a budget and work plan for the coming decade.

The six priorities are:

Community spaces and places - $672m. Replacing old facilities and building new ones to serve the city's growing population. Examples include pools, sports halls, sports fields and libraries
Transport - $1.9b. Helping people move around the city more easily and improving connections for local businesses
Resilience - $296m. Strengthening the city's ability to cope with natural hazards like tsunamis, floods, landslides, erosion and sea level rise
Space for new homes and businesses - $2.5b. Increasing land availability while building and improving roads, pipes and other infrastructure to support a growing population
City centre - $126m. Revitalising the region's heart, spurring the local economy and encouraging private investment
Delivery - $31m in 2022, plus an average increase of $3m per year afterwards
Improving the council's resources to provide quality services and ensure the 10-year investment programme can be delivered

Commission Chair Anne Tolley urged citizens to get involved with the long-term plan by thinking about the investment priorities, how they should be paid for, and making submissions.

"The investments in this long-term plan are by far the most significant in Tauranga's recent history," she said. "They aim to meet the needs of our growing population while also creating a better city for the people who live here now.

"These investments are for now, and for the future."

In a statement, the council said it was considering several options for funding the investments, including equitable ways to spread proposed rates increases among households and businesses.

Households

For residential ratepayers, the proposed average rates increase in 2022 will be about $1 a day, or between $4.90 and $9 a week.

For the median household, this is 17 percent (8 percent plus the new kerbside waste service), or $7.58 per week.

The median home is at the mid-point of property values, meaning there are an equal number of more valuable and less valuable homes across the city.

Businesses

For commercial ratepayers, the proposed average rates increase in 2022 will be between $16 and $65 per week.

The council proposes that owners of commercial properties pay $1.60 for every $1 paid by owners of residential properties with the same value (called the "commercial differential"). Currently, it's $1.20.

Businesses can claim rates as an expense on their tax returns and reclaim GST.

The median commercial business rates increase would be 35 percent or $32.45 per week.