Christchurch City Councillors will meet this week to approve Christchurch’s roadmap for the next decade.
The Long Term Plan 2024–2034 (LTP) sets out Council’s plans for the next 10 years and how it will pay for them. It is set to be adopted by the end of June.
Mayor Phil Mauger says that when compared to other councils around New Zealand, the Council has navigated 2024’s choppy financial waters in a relatively strong position.
“It all boils down to ‘The Three I’s’ – inflation, interest rates, and insurance costs,” Mayor Mauger says.
“These three factors alone are responsible for most of the rates increase we’re considering next week. They’re also behind the growing costs that businesses and households across the country are experiencing.
“The last thing we want to do is add to the burden on our community, so our focus from day one has been keeping any increase manageable.
“But we know that any increase has a significant impact on people’s back pocket, so we must continue to find ways to reduce our costs as we implement this LTP, and that’s what we’ll be weighing up on Tuesday.”
“When we began this process last year, we were staring at a projected rates increase of nearly 20%,” he said.
Mayor Mauger said Council’s target was a rates increase between 9% and 12%, without any services being compromised. The plan that Council will debate on Tuesday has a rates increase of 9.95%.
