Lower Hutt City Council Photo: RNZ / Ana Tovey
Lower Hutt residents will be able to have their say on Hutt City Council's long-term plan from next Tuesday.
Councillors approved the draft, and agreed to release it to the public for consultation on Wednesday.
The public will be able to provide feedback between 2 April and 3 May.
Hutt City Council said it wanted feedback on how much to invest in water services, whether to proceed with its food and green organics initiative, whether to provide extra financial assistance to help low-income families pay their rates and how to prioritise investment in Petone.
The long-term plan, from 2024 to 2034, will take effect from 1 July.
The draft plan proposed a rates increase of $10.82 per week on the average residential property valued at $815,000, or a 16.9 percent increase (after growth) for the year starting 1 July 2024.
Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry said the plan was about taking the next steps towards a thriving, resilient city.
"Putting together the draft [long-term plan] was a challenging process. We had to be mindful of the overall economic environment and cost of living pressures while balancing investment in key initiatives against financial responsibility and rates affordability.
Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry. Photo:
"While our proposed rates increase is higher than anyone would want, we aren't willing to kick the can down the road on crucial infrastructure. That would only cost us more in the long-term.
"We look forward to hearing what the public has to say through the submission process."
The plan prioritises investing $1.6 billion over 10 years to safeguard Lower Hutt's water network and to provide effective stormwater and wastewater systems.
It also includes an extra $2.8 million to eliminate the current backlog of water leaks in Lower Hutt.
Hutt City Council said for every $100 collected in rates, around $60 will be spent on water and transport infrastructure. This, alongside the pressures of inflation, insurance increases and other unavoidable cost increases means Hutt City Council will be consulting on higher levels of rate increases and borrowing.
An independent report by Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen showed councils across New Zealand were facing significant financial pressures.
"Hutt City Council is not alone when it comes to unavoidable cost pressures. Councils are having to pay more just to get the same infrastructure and services as a few years ago and not fall behind.
"There's critical infrastructure to be built and it's costing a lot more than before. The trade-off of lower rates and debt increases would be to stop investment in infrastructure and the services for communities."