Christchurch City Council is expected to make a decision on asset sales today, after spending the week debating the Long Term Plan and how it will pay for the city's rebuild.
Christchurch City Council Photo: RNZ
Councillors met this week to discuss the LTP, which sets out the priorities for the city for the next 10 years. It determines what the council will do, and when and how to pay for it.
The LTP is contentious as it involves the financial strategy on how the council will tackle its $1.2 billion budget shortfall.
While councillors have been debating options this week, they are not expected to make a final decision on whether to sell assets until an opinion from Audit New Zealand is received today.
The council received almost 3,000 formal submissions. Of those submissions commenting specifically on asset sales, more than 80 percent of them were against them.
Lianne Dalziel Photo: Christchurch City Council
Mayor Lianne Dalziel said the LTP showed it was not a one-size-fits-all approach to the council's financial challenges in Christchurch, and how that was dealt with was open for debate.
In the plan's consultation document, the council proposed phased release of $750 million in capital over the next three years from its commercial arm, Christchurch City Holdings, the parent company of assets such as Lyttelton Port Company, Orion, and Christchurch International Airport.
It also proposed to raise rates by about 27 percent over the next four years.
Ms Dalziel said she had given careful thought to the balance that was required in terms of rates increases, capital release and expenditure, while at the same time ensuring that the council had time to address the underlying assumptions around the capital programme and operational spend.
"It is, I believe, a pragmatic and reasonable budget, given the many constraints we are under and the demands of the many communities we represent.
"This budget will provide the foundation for us to take back control of our city's destiny and to set a new direction, one which will bring the community back to the fore and allow us to determine how our city is rebuilt and repositioned for the opportunities and challenges ahead.''