Council votes to maintain momentum

Ruapehu elected members have voted to adopt the majority of Council’s preferred Long Term Plan (LTP) option proposals at its deliberations meeting yesterday (Wed 16 May) except for a few issues where further community engagement is being sought.

Mayor Don Cameron said that the outcome of the deliberations means that Council has the mandate and budget to keep building on the momentum Ruapehu is currently enjoying and meet community development aspirations.

“During the consultation period we had said that this LTP had the potential to set Ruapehu’s development agenda for a generation and we are now enabled to put the plan into action,” said Mayor Cameron.

“I want to thank everyone who took the time to find out about the issues and to have their say.

We had a fantastic level of community engagement with the LTP consultation which has had a big influence on Council’s thinking and the decisions we have made.

With the exception of the proposal to introduce district wide rating for water and wastewater the significant majority of councillors were united on the remaining issues.

Ultimately the proposal to move to district wide water rating was passed six to four in favour (Mayor Cameron abstaining and Councillor Hoeta absent).

Interestingly the councillors who voted against district wide rating for water all thought that it would have only been a matter of time before it was introduced.

How to deal with the issue of connections to the untreated water network was deferred to allow Council to develop a clear Policy on the matter.”

Mayor Cameron said that except for one councillor voting against the proposal to join the Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) which will enable Council to borrow at lower interest rates the remaining consultation issues passed will the full agreement of elected members.

“These included; township revitalisation, funding for road and bridge renewal, targeted rating on holiday home rentals, changes to economic development funding, support for a Community Trust to obtain funding and manage the Turoa to Ohakune cycle trail, the Taumarunui Pool, and a new Raetihi cemetery site.

With some of the issues Council voted in support of the proposed option to ensure funding was available if required but are intending to continue discussions with the community on them.

Issues like this included the future of the Taumarunui Memorial Hall and the Raetihi Service Centre.

Mayor Cameron said that Council’s deliberations will now be formulated into a report that will be adopted by Council on 27 June.

Council will be writing to everyone who put in a formal submission to advise them of the decisions made,” he said.

© Scoop Media