Next Stage Of Long-term Plan Development Begins
The next stage of Long-term Plan development has started today, with Levels of Service workshops underway to inform budgeting for the 2024 Long-term Plan.
Wellington City Councillors have a series of workshops this week where they are being asked preliminarily to consider what levels of services could change across the work programme for Council as we face tighter external economic conditions.
“Ultimately, the decisions we make on what to prioritise is up to Councillors. Officers will lay out all the options for prioritisation across different activities in the coming days, and it is up to all of us to make decisions that best represent the wants and needs of Wellingtonians,” says Chair of the Long-term Plan Finance and Performance Committee, Councillor Rebecca Matthews.
From the feedback of Councillors, officers will then build the first iteration of a draft Long-term Plan budget that will be considered by Councillors on Thursday 9 November.
This step is one of many in building the 2024 Long-term Plan in the coming months, and formal consultation on key proposals and options is scheduled for April 2024.
“During COVID-19 we made significant levels of investment in our city. Now the city faces external pressures like increased inflation, insurance premiums and interest costs. We must be mindful and careful about the impact of costs on the community, and therefore be strategic about how we continue to deliver for our city whilst managing those impacts,” says Councillor Matthews.
“Whilst everything will be put on the table to be discussed, I would like to echo Mayor Whanau’s clear message that we plan to continue to develop our city.
“A decade ago we spent $128 million on capital expenditure, compared with the $566 million we are forecasting to spend this year. Any proposed rephasing of delivery will still ultimately mean we are investing in our city at consistent rates to previous LTPs.
“We are not going to propose removing or deeply cutting services. We will be thinking clearly about how we create more of a financial buffer for our city, how we can better pace our projects in line with external economic pressures, how we can be strategic and clever about our investments, and how we can do all this without unnecessary financial burden on Wellingtonians.
“I look forward to working through this process with all our Councillors.