Annual Plan 2008/09 [PDF 2.2MB]
The Christchurch City Council adopted its Draft Annual Plan 2008/09 and amendments to its Long Term Council Community Plan 2006–16 (LTCCP) at its meeting on 25 June 2008.
In adopting the Plan and amendments to the LTCCP, the Council has set the rates for the coming year and has committed the necessary funding for the new kerbside collection system.
Rates for residential properties will increase by an average 5.1 per cent which includes the fixed annual charge for the kerbside system. The average increase for businesses is 8.34 per cent plus an $82 fixed annual charge for the kerbside system where it operates. For rural properties the average increase is 3.1 per cent which includes the costs of the new collection system.
The system will be funded by a new uniform targeted rate for the three bin kerbside system; a 75 per cent part charge for properties using an outlying depot-based service; user charges in the central business district (CBD); the balance funded by general rates.
The extension of the tram route has been approved with the adoption of the Plan. The new route will extend beyond the existing circuit at the corner of Worcester Boulevard and Oxford Terrace and travel south along Oxford Terrace before turning east at the City Mall. It will continue to Manchester Street where it will turn right, looping back along High Street, north into Colombo Street, linking up with the present route at the back of the Cathedral. For more about the tram route go to tram project information.
Capital works totalling $256 million have been approved in the plan, up from a proposed $230.7 million reported in the draft plan. The increase is partly due to $1.1 million in Council community housing refurbishment and maintenance. The Council plans to refurbish 270 units in the 2008–09 year compared with 120 in the previous year.
A number of fees and charges relating to Council-provided services have been changed both up and down, generally as a result of direct cost-recovery for the service.
The Council adoption of the Draft Annual Plan and amendments to the LTCCP follow three months of consultation, hearings and Council deliberations. There were 537 submissions on the Plan and the LTCCP and, of those, 80 submitters (individuals and organisations) were heard by the Council over a four-day period.
A large number of the submissions related to the extension of the tram route and the variation to the City Mall plan to allow for the operation of trams.
Other proposals that attracted a number of submissions were rates, the capital works programme, the targeted rate for the new kerbside waste minimisation collection system, fees at early learning and recreation centres, and housing rent increases.
- The Annual Plan is how the Council annually updates the LTCCP forecast for the fiscal year commencing 1 July, using the most up-to-date financial and project information available. The LTCCP shows what the Council will be doing over the 10-year period of the LTCCP, why it is going to do these things, and what the costs will be.
- The rates levied are based on the revised property valuations for the city which were released late last year. However, rates do not increase by the capital value change. Instead, the proportion a property owner pays of the overall rate-take might alter slightly depending on the increase in their property’s value compared to the city average.
- The commercial sector rate increase is higher than the residential because following the 2007 revaluation of the city, the increase in valuations for the commercial sector was by comparison on average much higher. Also, the business sector is apportioned a higher proportion of roading costs, which continues to be an area affected by large cost increases.
