Stratford District Council Adopts 2016/17 Annual Plan

Stratford District Council was the first in the region to adopt its 2016/17 Annual Plan at its Ordinary Meeting on Tuesday 9 February.
“Changes to legislation have provided Council the opportunity to adopt the Annual Plan earlier than usual as there are no significant changes from our Long Term Plan (LTP),” says District Mayor Neil Volzke.

The move was made possible because of changes to the Local Government Act in 2014. Council now has the option of adopting an annual plan without further consultation where it is consistent with the LTP. By not duplicating the process there are significant cost savings to ratepayers of approximately $60,000.

The 2016/17 Annual Plan has no significant differences from Year 2 of Council’s LTP which was consulted on during April 2015 and adopted in June 2015.

“Officers completed the work during the LTP process and for 2016/17 there are no changes to levels of service,” says Chief Executive Matt O’Mara. “166 written submissions were received during the LTP process which gives us the confidence that a comprehensive and robust consultation process was undertaken.”

Stratford District Councillors convincingly voted 7 – 3 to adopt the Annual Plan for 2016/17, without the requirement for further public consultation. This is inline with a number of other Councils around the country.

With the Plan adopted, ratepayers will see an average increase of 3.27%.

ENDS

© Scoop Media