Mayor Miccio

MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday 16 April 2013

Nelson Mayor to reduce Council debt by half over next five years

Nelson Mayor, Aldo Miccio, today announced his intention to halve Nelson City Council’s forecast debt from $140 million to $70 million over the next five years.

Matching the Nelson Capital Projects Budget to its capacity and continuing to reduce operating costs through more efficient and productive practices will help to achieve this goal. Mr Miccio confirmed this level of debt reduction as being attainable whilst maintaining rates rises at CPI or no greater than 3 percent per annum, adding that this year it is realistic that we may achieve a rate rise under 2 percent.

“In the last two years both Council and staff have worked hard to achieve the lowest rate rise of any council term in the last 20 years, whilst still keeping our current debt level within the lowest 20 percent of any council in New Zealand,” Miccio says.

Financial and Policy Analyst, Larry Mitchell’s independent summary of 2013 Local Government League Table, shows that over the last year Nelson City Council has moved up from 19th place to ninth place, and is referenced as a “consistent high performer and higher this year”. Mr Miccio said his goal was for Nelson to rank amongst the top five Councils.

The Local Government League Table scores and ranks each of the 67 NZ territorial local authorities in order according to:
The strength of each Council’s financial sustainability as well as
The affordability of Council rates, and charges to their local communities.

Mr Miccio acknowledges that in the current economic climate it’s imperative to continue to drive Council efficiencies and improve on the great work that has been achieved to date, adding “It’s not easy to keep the rate rises low whilst simultaneously keep our city operating, growing and developing, but we have successfully delivered on our promise of an affordable council and will continue to do so.”

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