Council commits to work programme for the year ahead

We are a unique council that delivers a range of services to Chatham Islanders.

In adopting our Annual Plan 2023/24 in late June, Council committed to a 3% rating increase.

Our usual approach to rating increases is to do this in line with inflation (although this is increased slightly to reflect the cost of transporting goods to the Island). At March 2023, inflation was 6.7%.

We know that with the current cost of living crisis, household budgets are being squeezed from every direction and a rates increase of this nature could make things even more difficult.

A lot has changed since we adopted our current Long-Term Plan and budgets in June 2021. The world is a different place now, some needs have changed and costs have risen across the board - we understand the impact of rising costs because our work is affected by them too. This means we need to balance affordability with action and we need to adopt this increase so we can continue to deliver services to you.

The annual appropriation was confirmed in May. This has a direct impact on the work we are able to deliver in the coming year. There are also uncertainties with the Three Waters(external link) programme.

Additional funding has also been received from the Three Waters' ‘better off’ fund, to be allocated to:

• The Kaingaroa Wharf initiative
• The Owenga Wharf initiative
• The NKMRC initiative to provide seed funding to build a roof over the netball courts
• Upgrading three social/community housing units
• Maintenance and works on existing housing facilities for council staff
• Building a hostel-like accommodation facility
• Building new houses for visitor and contractor accommodation
• Waste Management initiatives including the provision of a weighbridge facility and the establishment of a waste recovery building were funded by MfE.

These uncertainties to do make planning difficult, but we feel confident in what we can achieve if we all work together.