Clutha District Council				E-Newsletter
The Latest Council News Online		Issue#23 – Tuesday 29 June 2010

Welcome to the Clutha District Council E-Newsletter, a Council service that aims to keep ratepayers, residents and stakeholders more informed. The E-Newsletter is released every six weeks, following Council meetings. It is also available online at www.cluthadc.govt.nz

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In this edition of Clutha District Council E-Newsletter:

Annual Plan adopted

Council has adopted its Annual Plan 2010-11, as well as amendments to its Long Term Plan 2009-19 relating the proposed Clutha Recreation Centre and new West Otago Health facilities.

Following the consultation process and several requests for additional funding, provision has been made in the final budgets for some additional expenditure. This includes the following additional funding of note:

• $20,000 grant for the next two years to the Catlins Historical Society to provide additional opening hours for the Owaka Information Centre and the preparation of a Draft Strategy for Museum services in the Clutha District.

• $8,000 to fund Upstart Incubation Trust services in the Clutha District.

• $4,500 for Economic Development monitoring.

• $3,500 for the next two years to Kaitangata and Districts Promotions for the Kaitangata Museum.

This means the overall rates rise for 2010/11 will be 3.89%, slightly more than the 3.66% forecast in the draft Annual Plan, but less than the 7.66% which had been projected in the Long Term Plan. However, individual rates changes will depend on which on the 11 rating areas people live in.

More details about some of the ‘key issues’ in the Annual Plan are outlined below, while the full Annual Plan 2010/11 can be viewed on the Council website by clicking here.

Annual Plan decision – Council supports Recreation Centre

Council agreed to provide an extra $1.3 million to the Clutha Recreation Centre, lifting its total contribution to $2.5 million (a maximum of 50% of the total project cost).

Council has also decided to change how the ratepayer contribution to the Recreation Centre is funded, moving to a system in which ratepayers in different electoral wards will pay a uniform amount based on their proximity to the Centre.

These amendments to the Long Term Plan 2009-19 were made following extensive consultation and feedback from the public.

Council received over 200 responses relating to the Recreation Centre during a month-long consultation period. Eighty-two percent of respondents were in favour of Council increasing its contribution to the centre, and 79% favoured the electoral ward-based funding method to fund the ratepayer contribution.

Several councillors commented that the Recreation Centre would be a great asset for the whole district, and would help to attract more people to the area.

Cr Jeff Seymour said the way the ratepayer contribution was structured meant that people would pay a relatively small amount over a long period of time. Under the new rating method, Balclutha ratepayers would still be paying half the total contribution cost, while ratepayers in the West Otago Ward would be paying considerably less than under the previous method despite Council’s contribution increasing from $1.2 million to $2.5 million.

Cr Hamish Anderson said Council had to take some leadership on the issue and that without such projects as the Recreation Centre, the Clutha District would be left in the wilderness.

Council will begin rating for the Recreation Centre from 1 July 2011. The contribution will be about $38 a year for Balclutha Ward ratepayers, $29 for Clutha Valley and Kaitangata-Matau Wards, $19 for Clinton and The Catlins, $11.50 for Lawrence-Tuapeka and Bruce Wards, and about $4 for West Otago.

Annual Plan decision – West Otago Health

Council has agreed to grant $1 million to the West Otago Health Trust for the proposed new health facilities at Tapanui.

Council will fund this grant by raising a loan which will be repaid through a uniform charge of about $88 per year for ratepayers in the West Otago Health service area.

The grant will be subject to all other funding needed to meet the full construction costs for the proposed facility being contractually confirmed; all other sources of funding being either interest free loans or grants; and the purchase of the building and fitting of the proposed facility being kept in line with Council’s procurement policies.

This decision was made as Council finalises its Annual Plan 2010/11, and follows extensive consultation and feedback from the public. A survey was mailed to the owners of the 887 properties in the affected area, with a total of 328 surveys (37%) returned.

Eighty-three percent of survey respondents felt the proposed new health facilities were important for the local community, and 62% supported an increase in rates of about $88 per dwelling per year for 25 years to help pay for the proposed facilities.

Councillors are generally supportive of the proposed facilities and feel there are enough conditions attached to the Council grant to allow it to proceed with confidence.

Council, which has also confirmed the West Otago Health service area, will begin rating those ratepayers in the area for its contribution from 1 July 2011.

Change in GST – how will this affect rates?

From the 1 October 2010 the rate of GST will increase from 12.5% to 15%.  What does this mean if you pay rates?

For ratepayers who run a business generally they are registered for GST with the Inland Revenue Department and are able to claim the GST back.  For these ratepayers the increase in GST on their rates bill is neutral. 

For other ratepayers who are unable to claim GST back from the Inland Revenue Department, the change in the rate of GST represents an increase in the rates bill. 

For any amount of rates remaining unpaid as at 1 October 2010, the total amount will increase by 2.5%.

Let’s illustrate how the change in GST will work with an example:

Joe Bloggs owns a house and his total rates assessment as at 1 July 2010 shows that he owes the Council $1,500 plus GST.  The Council issues four quarterly rates invoices and if Joe pays these each by the due date his total rates bill will increase by $28.13.

If Joe pays his first installment by the due date and then elects to make a voluntary payment of all outstanding rates before 1 October 2010 he would save $28.13.

If Joe elects to pay all his rates ($1,687.50) by the due date for the first installment he would save $28.13 plus receive a discount of 2.5% for early payment of $42.19 representing a total saving of $70.32 or 4.16%.

This reminder will also be published in the next Council newsletter to ratepayers which is mailed out with the first rates invoice for the 2010-11 financial year in early August.

Clutha agricultural stats uncovered

A new statistics report by the Clutha Agricultural Development Board reveals the amount of farmed land area in the Clutha District has remained relatively static over the last 20 years, but farm types and profitability levels have changed significantly.

This is just one key finding of the ‘Agricultural Statistics for the Clutha District’ report produced by the Clutha Agricultural Development Board and released this month.

The greatest change of land use in the last 20 years has actually been a 50% increase in plantation forestry; although the more talked about change to dairying is seen by the statistic of a 28% increase in dairy farms in the seven years to August 2009.

This collection is the first release of statistics on the Clutha District since the year 2000 and the Clutha Agricultural Development Board hopes this is the first of at least biennial updates. The aim of this data collection is to capture a distinctly Clutha District agricultural picture and open up the opportunity for farmers, agribusiness and developers to recognise trends and plan accordingly, according to one of the authors of the report, Graeme Pringle.

“It isn’t easy to get datasets at the district level so we’ve had to have a lot of co-operation from all the industry bodies concerned. Everyone has been great, although different bodies collect data in different ways, and sometimes it’s been tricky to see the picture clearly.

“Farmers often feel harassed to give up particular information, about stock numbers or dollars achieved or whatever, so it would be good if we can put a reasonably brief picture together that gives them some value,” said Mr Pringle.

Clutha Agricultural Development Board Project Manager Malcolm Deverson says the Board is keen to get feedback on their report and hopes the quality and consistency of the data can improve at each year it is produced.

“There’s a fair bit of ‘looking over the fence’ opportunities in a bunch of statistics like this, seeing what everyone else is up to,” said Mr Deverson. “I think farmers like to have an idea of the global picture in their district.

People can access a copy of the report on the Clutha District Council website at http://www.cluthadc.govt.nz/agriculturalreport.pdf 

“We are still a sheep district (75% of Clutha farmers) but will the trend to dairying continue? The answer is probably in these statistics and farmers’ responses to them,” concludes Mr Deverson.

Youth development fund offered

The Clutha District Youth Council wants to hear from young people or groups in the district who need a financial boost to help them realise an event, project, trip, course or training opportunity.

Applications are now open to the Youth Development Fund, established by this year’s Clutha District Youth Council, to help young people aged 12 to 24 to achieve their goals.

The Youth Council has allocated up to $2,000 of its annual $5,000 project fund to the Youth Development Fund.

Youth Council Chairman Brendan Morrison says the Youth Development Fund is intended to help more young people in the Clutha District reach their potential.

“Youth Councillors felt that there were limited sources of funding available for young people in the Clutha District and we wanted to do our bit to try and help.”

Mr Morrison says the Youth Council had left the criteria for the fund fairly open and each application would be assessed on its merit. “There are so many different things that young people in our district are involved with whether it be sport, music or academic activities just to name a few, so we don’t want to be too restrictive in who can apply to the fund,” he said.

Applicants will be shortlisted and then interviewed by a panel consisting of four youth councillors, one councillor and one Council staff member. The panel will then decide on the number of recipients and what amount they will receive.

Applications to the Youth Development Fund opened on Monday 14 June and close Wednesday 14 July. More information and application forms are available online at by clicking here or by contacting Council’s main administration office.

Meeting agendas available online

Remember that it is now easier for residents and ratepayers to keep track of decisions made by Council, with meeting agendas available online.

Agendas for the full Council, Standing Committees, the District Development Board and the Community Boards are now accessible via the Council website by clicking here.

Agendas will generally be available online on the Monday prior to a particular meeting.

Agendas can be downloaded in PDF, either in full, or by each agenda item to make the service more user-friendly and accessible for those on dial-up Internet connections.

Minutes of each meeting will also be published on the website, after they are confirmed at the subsequent meeting.

Online Community Directory

The Community Directory lists about 300 groups, committees, sports teams, and associations from throughout the district.

If the contact details of your sports club or community organisation have recently changed, please email your updated details to jamie.shaw@cluthadc.govt.nz so we can keep the online Community Directory up-to-date.

The Community Directory can be viewed on our website by clicking here.

Upcoming Meetings

Don’t forget to check out the Events page on the district www.cluthacountry.co.nz website for a comprehensive list of upcoming community events.

Clutha District Council

1 Rosebank Terrace

Po Box 25,Balclutha

(03) 419 0200

www.cluthadc.govt.nz