Welcome to 2010. I hope everyone is able to enjoy a prosperous and successful new year. Certainly we are able to start this year with more reasons for optimism than we had this time last year.
The property market appears to be lifting, dairy prices have improved, our major export market Australia is growing strongly compared to the rest of the world and unemployment is expected to peak at lower levels than previously forecast. It has to be said that New Zealand has weathered the world financial crises better than might have been expected and with less pain than most countries.
But many families and businesses are worse off than they were a year ago and it will take some time to repair the damage done. As we approach this year’s Annual Plan, Council will need to be careful not to add any unnecessary financial burden through the rates we charge.
The community always asks Council for more services and facilities and at the same time asks for a reduction in rates. Whatever the economy does, Hamilton is going to continue to grow and we must ensure that we continue to invest in building and maintaining a vibrant city we can all be proud of. It is Council’s job to try to get the balance right.
It is difficult to make meaningful comparisons with other councils but recent calculations show that Hamilton rates are lower per head of population than either of our neighbouring councils.
Hamilton’s long-term plan forecasts a rate increase of 4.6% for the 2010/11 year. By comparison, Tauranga forecasts increases between 10% and 13% for each of the next three years. In the middle of last year I asked staff to bring Council a proposed plan that keeps next year’s increase below 3.8%. That will be challenging and it will put pressure on our organisation. It will then be up to Council and the community to decide if they want rates to increase beyond that point. But we will as always cut our cloth to keep the rates burden as low as we reasonably can.
