Between 15 November and 15 December, Tauranga City Council will be consulting the community on its draft 2024-34 Long-term Plan (LTP) and we’re particularly interested in hearing from the business community on some key matters.
On pages 12-13 of the November issue of Bay of Plenty Business News, you will find commentary on the draft LTP, together with details on where to obtain more information, how to make a submission and the locations and timing of LTP engagement opportunities to talk directly to Council staff or the Commissioners.
From a business perspective, it’s important that you know that this draft LTP does not signal any significant change in direction, but rather our determination to get on with the job of implementing some long-overdue investment in infrastructure and community facilities, which the community has already expressed a broad measure of support for.
Those of you who are Tauranga city ratepayers will be aware that we have made some significant changes to our rating structure since the Commission took on the Council’s governance role in February 2021.
These aim to make our rating system fairer and bring Tauranga’s commercial rates differential and targeted transport rate more into line with those in other major centres.
As well as successful applications to the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund and Housing Acceleration Fund, we have also utilised the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act to contribute to the cost of transport projects (and potentially to cover the rates-funded share of Te Manawataki o Te Papa, our Civic Precinct redevelopment which will bring new life to the city centre and make it the sub-region’s culture, heritage and entertainment hub).
That has seen some fairly hefty rates increases for the business community over the last two years, although it’s worth noting that our commercial differential is still low compared with other metro councils.
In this draft LTP, we’re proposing to introduce a new industrial rating category with a higher differential than that applying to the commercial sector generally (see the following pages for more details). This reflects the relatively high benefit that industry derives from our infrastructure (and in particular, our transport network). If the proposed industrial rate is adopted, by year four of this LTP, we would anticipate achieving a constant proportional split of the general rate at 65% residential, 20% industrial and 15% commercial.
The Council has also been working on innovative new ways to fund new infrastructure.
As well as successful applications to the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund and Housing Acceleration Fund, we have also utilised the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act to contribute to the cost of transport projects (and potentially to cover the rates-funded share of Te Manawataki o Te Papa, our Civic Precinct redevelopment which will bring new life to the city centre and make it the sub-region’s culture, heritage and entertainment hub).
Another possible longer-term prospect is the introduction of road pricing, both to reduce transport network congestion at peak travel times and to generate funds which would allow us to bring forward network improvements. Again, see the information overleaf to give you some background on what this could involve and what it would achieve.
The Commission is particularly appreciative of the support the business community has provided over the past two-and-a-half years, as we work to address the backlog of investment required to address the city’s housing shortfall and inadequate infrastructure.
This LTP will continue that mahi and we look forward to receiving your feedback on all of the matters referred to above.
Related: Some tough calls to come in the city’s long-term plan
