TRC sets 1.4% rates rise

The Taranaki Regional Council today set a 1.4% increase in its general rates take for the financial year starting 1 July.

The decision came as the Council formally adopted its Annual Plan for 2014/2015, after considering written and verbal submissions and tweaking the draft document.

The Chairman, David MacLeod, says the modest new rates increase follows a 1.5% increase in the current year and a zero rates increase last year. “We’re confident of maintaining our status as the lowest-rating Council in New Zealand.”

The Draft Plan had proposed an increase of 1% but the Council today agreed that an investigation into regional waste disposal should be carried out during 2014/2015, requiring an extra rates contribution of $30,000.

Mr MacLeod says momentum is building in a number of major Council projects.

Highlights of the Annual Plan include:

Continuation of the review of the Council’s freshwater rulebook, the Regional Fresh Water Plan for Taranaki. A formal consultation process is set to begin during the 2014-2015 year.
Distribution of 550,000 native plants for protection of ringplain rivers and streams under the Council’s world-scale Riparian Management Programme.
Continuation of the three-year project to upgrade flood defences on the lower Waitara River, taking into account the heavier rainstorms that are expected in coming decades as a result of climate change.
The second year of a multi-stage upgrade at Pukeiti gardens and rainforest.
Completion of the first year of a two-year trial of a daily Hawera-New Plymouth bus service.

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