Sports, Parks And Arts Big Winners With 12.96% Rates Rise

Tuesday, 2 July 2024, 2:50 pm
Article: Maia Hart - Local Democracy Reporter

A handful of Marlborough community organisations have been successful in receiving council support after making requests to the long-term plan.

While there are some winners, others aren’t as lucky, and for some their ideas will be handed over to council staff and committees for more investigation before a decision is made.

Of course, the council has to draw a line somewhere, as it has confirmed nearly everything it consulted on, spanning core functions such as new public toilets and maintaining its parks, to looking after the region’s water and the roll-out of wheelie bins with collection starting on July 1.

The only change from what the council consulted on was removing the marine options in the Marlborough Sounds that were pitched as part of the road recovery work, although a $500,000 marine study remained in the budget.

By excluding the marine options and with some funding going to community groups, the final rates rise came in at 12.96%, just 0.01% higher than the draft number the council consulted on.

Who and what received support?

Nine community groups received funding from the council after submitting to the long-term plan.

The Tōtaranui 250 Trust received $100,000 for Cook’s Lookout on Arapaoa Island, to be funded from reserves. This was conditional on other funds being sourced.

Warmer Healthier Homes Te Tau Ihu Charitable Trust received $20,000 each year for three years for home insulation.

The Flaxbourne Heritage Trust would receive an extra $2500 a year and a $250,000 grant already approved in a previous annual plan would be released.

The Rapaura Tennis Club would receive $2500 a year for maintenance.

Graeme Dingle Foundation Marlborough would receive $2000 per year for their career navigator programme.

Blenheim Community Patrol would receive an extra $3000 in its annual council grant.

The team that oversaw the Link Pathway would receive a one-off $10,000 grant for path maintenance.

The Marlborough Historical Society would receive $40,000 for one year from existing budgets to help with managing the Marlborough Museum.

The Nature Conservancy NZ would receive $40,000 towards operating expenses.

What other projects were funded?

Funding was minimal to the community groups because the council had a number of other projects it had consulted on too.

They totalled $1 billion in investments over the next 10 years, $277m more than the previous long-term plan, according to the LTP consultation document.

Funding of $67,000 was approved for increased operating costs to maintain College Park, Rewi Murray Park and Puna Wai hockey stadium.

Upgrades to the Spring Creek stopbank network expected to cost $8.7m were approved.

The new A&P Park Pavilion added $3.7m to the community facilities budget and was expected to start in 2026.

The Blenheim boardwalk at Riverside Park would have its timber boards replaced with plastic boards and upgrades to lighting for $494,000.

The Taylor and Ōpaoa River would be dredged, expected to cost $800,000 compared to the usual maintenance budget of $180,000.

The council planned to build 12 new toilet blocks at a range of locations such as the Taylor River Reserve, Blenheim Mountain Bike Park, Omaka Cemetery, Havelock Domain, Ward and Endeavour Park in Waitohi Picton, through additional debt funding of $1.48m.

A new Arts, Culture and Creativity Strategy would gain $200,000, invested over four years to assist with its implementation.

The biggest piece of work in the long-term plan was the Marlborough Sounds road recovery, with the council confirming its plan for how it would be paid at the deliberations last week.

That plan had already been submitted to the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi for approval, so the council was now waiting for confirmation on the funding it would receive to help with the rebuild.

The new rates were effective from July 1.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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