Timaru District Council is opening its annual check-in with the community as it works towards its Annual Plan for 2025-26.

Every year a council has to publish an annual plan for the next financial year, based on the Long Term Plan it publishes every three years, and this offers the community the opportunity to feed back to councillors on what they think about it.

An information brochure has been printed in today’s Courier, it outlines the main changes from what was planned for year 2 of our Long Term Plan, gives an overview of the council’s financial situation, what’s happening over the next few years and has some examples of how that will affect the rates bills of residential, rural and commercial properties.

You can also access the information and provide feedback online at timaru.govt.nz/annualplan

One of the largest changes is the reduction of the proposed overall rates increase from 12% to 9%. It’s important to note that this is only the overall percentage of rates being collected, every individual property is different due to the services it receives, the type of property and where it is.

Timaru District Mayor Nigel Bowen said that the plan they are proposing to adopt was the best option to find a balance between cost savings and investment in the community infrastructure and facilities needed to create a growth enabling environment in the Timaru District.

“We’ve heard the community clearly that they feel we need to cut our cloth, so have been working hard to cut costs and increase efficiency to counter the increasing costs we’ve faced,” he said.

“While people understandably look at the large projects with large price tags like the Stadium and Theatre, they have a far smaller effect on your rates bills as they are paid off over a long period of time. To lower the rates requirement for today’s ratepayers we need to look at the smaller day to day costs.

“For example, we have undertaken a project looking at all the surplus land we own and putting everything we can up for sale. We’ve also been looking at all the services we use from printers to electricity to IT equipment to see if we’re getting the best deal.

“Another cost saving is looking to minimise the use of contractors and consultants where we can, and bringing services in house where it makes sense from a financial or service perspective.

“This work by council staff is having a positive effect on our bottom line, and due to this we are proposing to bring the 12% planned rates rise in our Long Term Plan down to 9%.

“In the document we’re publishing today we lay out the challenges we face and our suggested solutions to help Timaru District continue to be a great place to live. We really want to hear what you think about them and we welcome any ideas you may have.”

You can provide feedback to council from now until 5pm on Friday 23rd May. The best way to do so is through our online form at timaru.govt.nz/annualplan but you can also drop in a hard copy submission at any Timaru District Council facility.