Long Term Plan
A Waipā district councillor has revealed the extent of the council’s line-by-line budget savings as part of the Long Term Plan consultation, but residents may struggle to find the details.
Draft Long Term Plan 2025-34
The savings, which affect hundreds of individual work plans, are not included in the glossy consultation brochures delivered to households.
They are under a “See more” section on the council’s Have Your Say website.
Council staff conducted a line-by-line review of spending, resulting in an average rates increase of 5.9 per cent over the next 10 years.
Andrew Myers
The steepest hike – 15.5 per cent – is expected in the upcoming financial year, before tapering off to as low as 2.3 per cent in later years.
At last week’s Cambridge Community Board meeting, member Andrew Myers raised concerns about the visibility of these savings.
“We’re asking our ratepayers to make sacrifices — maybe switching from Sanitarium to Pam’s products to save 17 per cent,” he said.
“I’d like to see examples where the council has said ‘we’ve got to cut our cloth to suit’, not just drawing lines through things. Making the tough calls on expenditure.”
Mike Montgomerie
Finance committee chair Mike Montgomerie, also a member of the board would normally have not been able to say anything because of his decision-making role as a councillor.
“I’m really glad that I crossed the floor and went and sat with the staff because otherwise I would have had to sit there and say nothing which is stupid.”
He told the board there was no culture of overspending at the council or around the council table.
Significant reductions across 10 activity management plans in the following areas:
- cemeteries,
- heritage,
- parks,
- property,
- public toilets,
- libraries,
- transportation,
- stormwater,
- water treatment and supply, and
- wastewater
They include:
- Signage: Heritage, wayfinding, and walkway signs will not be replaced.
- Leamington Domain Reserve: Implementation of the concept plan has been slashed by 80 per cent.
- Parks and Recreation: Cuts affect Lake Rotopiko, sports fields (47 per cent reduction), neighbourhood and amenity reserves, and conservation areas. Fewer volunteer projects will proceed due to reduced onsite management.
- Cancelled Projects: The Sports Clubs Lease Model review, the Pirongia to Te Awamutu cycleway, and the Pioneer Walkway will not go ahead.
- Land Acquisition: Plans to purchase land at Horahora Domain have been shelved, halting any expansion of the reserve.
Montgomerie said the budgeting process began with staff proposals, which were then scrutinised line by line.
“We fully disclose in all the financial information and in the activity plans,” he said.
There were 267 lines of operating and 227 capital projects.
Capital projects are debt funded while operational work is funded as it goes.
The activity plans lump capital and operational expenditure together which makes them difficult to follow.
“You can relatively quickly get a sense of what’s in and what’s out. We disclose them all.”
Myers said he received “marketing” emails from the council every single day and he and the public were largely unaware of the extent of the savings.
“I didn’t understand that and I sure as hell know that the ratepayer doesn’t know you’re going to those lengths to do that.
“I think the community will respect that and we should hear a lot more about it that you are really digging in and doing the mahi,” he said.
Montgomerie later told The News he was impressed by the board’s engagement and questions.
“I thought the Cambridge Community Board was flying,” he said.
“That is exactly how a community board should be functioning I reckon.”
It was Montgomerie who revealed the activity management plans were not in the public consultation documents but were on the council’s Have Your Say website.
During the board meeting, he was unable to list the savings “but I knew where to look.
“It’s quite hard to find stuff to argue with. Tell me what you don’t want to spend as a ratepayer.
“They’re all there, free to see. But it took me a tiny bit to find them as well. That ‘See more’ tab tripped me up for a minute too.
“Anyone who asks, I’m telling, it’s all there.”
Montgomerie said he answered a couple of questions poorly during the meeting and he apologised for that.
