NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011
Hello,
Everyone’s thoughts at this time I am sure are with the people of Christchurch and Japan for the tragedies and I am sure you share with me in hoping that things can be brought back to normality for them very soon. Deepest sympathy goes out to all those who have lost family and friends.
The last couple of months have been very busy on Council matters.
On the infrastructure side, the roading in McLeod Bay, Craig Road to Bay View Road is proceeding and is expected to be completed by April and a short length of the Pataua North Road is being upgraded and is expected to be completed by April too. The recent storm damage is still apparent on the roads as contractors continue to tidy it up. In the waste water area the major changes last year have eliminated the regular spills that were occurring from the Okara Pump Station. The designing of further treatment processes at the main treatment station, so the surges from storms will be able to be treated to a higher level is well underway. Earlier this month the contract was let on the Hatea Pump Station and emergency storage tank development and it was awarded to United Civil Construction, a Whangarei based company. Spillages have occurred in storm events from the Hatea Pump Station for many years but in the main these were under the radar because of the larger Okara spills. This development builds a storage chamber to hold and treat effluent arising from storm events. With the storage tank, the treatment system is able to be turned on and the effluent treated and then discharged. The system provides an ultra-violet light disinfection treatment system. It is expected the job will be completed within the next nine months.
The Directors of the Northland Regional Landfill (Puwera Landfill) are very pleased with the operation which has been running since the 1 November and we have benefited by being able to contract to receive most of the solid waste from throughout Northland. We also receive waste from Mason’s Contractors based in Rodney and through capturing the majority of Northland wide solid waste streams, have the landfill operating at a very economic level.
Trustees of Toll Stadium are very happy with the large number of events that are held there and it is certainly a multipurpose event stadium. We were very pleased to have secured the Warriors game which was very well supported and happy for the stadium to be used as a community asset for the Project Promise Family Day. There have been a number of weddings and on most days it is used for meetings or other functions.
The Draft Annual Plan 2011-12 was recently released and submissions can be made on this plan up until Friday the 15th April. Two contentious issues are the increase in borrowings of up to $150million which has come about because proposed property sales have not proceeded as quickly as expected and a change to the rate base arising from the rates review. We are proposing to move to a rate base to lock down the percentage of total rates from each of the three sectors being rural, commercial / industrial and residential / lifestyle. By locking the percentage down, where we have a surge in quotable value increases in a single sector, like we did at the last QV Review in commercial / industrial, the impact will not be felt by that sector. We are proposing to move the share of rates revenue of the three sectors over two years and in 2013 rural will contribute 12% of the general rates, commercial / industrial 26% and residential / lifestyle 62%. The graph on the Draft Annual Plan, page 23, illustrates how this will bring the rates in the three sectors back to parity with the average over the last twelve years.
Easter is not too far away, so I hope we have good weather and everyone has an enjoyable break.
Regards
Warwick
WDC Councillor
