Te Mahere Tūroa

A healthy environment - Ohau Wall

Council agreed to form a technical working group to assess potential solutions to repair the Ohau Diversion Wall in Lake Rotoiti. Any future changes to budgets and timing of the work will depend on the recommendations of this group and approval by Council.

Sustainable development - Waste management and enabling a circular economy

• Council approved an additional $50,000 per year towards the refresh and implementation of the regional waste strategy, subject to additional funding being contributed by territorial authorities. This will allow Council to take a leading role in collaborative regional waste initiatives, in alignment with regional and national activity. It will build on prior work, notably Circular Economy in the Western Bay of Plenty (2024) and Regional Waste Stocktake (2021).
• A dedicated two-year fixed term role was approved to coordinate the refresh and implementation of the regional waste strategy at a total cost of $288,000, subject to full cost recovery from external funding.

Te Ara Poutama (The Pursuit of Excellence) - Te Amorangi (Māori Strategy) and Te Pae Tawhiti (Māori capability and capacity building)

Council received a large number of submissions in support of Te Ara Poutama (Pursuit of Excellence) which is a new Community Outcome for the Long Term Plan 2024-2034. Through its deliberations, Council agreed the following changes to the draft Long Term Plan budget to support work to embed this outcome.

• Establish a new Māori Initiatives Fund with funding of $200,000 per annum for the first three years of the Long Term Plan. This fund will support initiatives that help to build partnerships via formal and informal agreements, enhance and sustainably grow Māori capacity and technical capability, and enable proactive working relationships with Council.
• Increase funding to support development and review of Iwi/Hapū Management Plans from $70,000 to $140,000 per annum. Through these plans tangata whenua interests can be considered and incorporated into Council operations and decision making processes. Council is legally required to take these plans into account, and they are regularly used to inform Council’s functions and operations.
• Establish a Regional Co-governance Support Fund and allocate funding of $200,000 per year for the first three years of the Long Term Plan. These funds will be used to support the functions and operations of co-governance/management fora, as a key statutory mechanisms used to recognise the relationship of tangata whenua with the natural environment.

Future ready communities - Rivers and Drainage

Council approved the addition of three rainfall gauges in the Waioeka Otara River catchments to improve flood forecasting for Ōpōtiki and will support improved community resilience to natural hazards.

Connected and enabled communities

Community funding

Council received a large number of funding requests through submissions to the Long Term Plan. Through its deliberations, Council agreed the following changes to the budgets for community funding.

• Community Initiatives Fund - Increased funding available from $200,000 to $300,000 per year. This fund supports projects that complement or enhance the work of Council and are not eligible for other Council funding. Council also confirmed funding allocations to organisations that applied to the Community Initiatives Fund and Volunteers initiatives Fund though the Long Term Plan. Details of these allocations can be found on the Community Funding page.
• Environmental Enhancement fund - Increased funding from $250,000 to $300,000 per year. This fund supports local, grass-roots projects that have a vision to improve or protect the natural or historical features of the rohe (region) and will be allocated each year.
• Regional Safety and Rescue Services Fund - Increased funding by $228,500 to $628,500 in 2024/25, adjusting for inflation in subsequent years. This fund supports organisations that provide vital safety and rescue services to local people in our community and visitors to our region.

Public Transport

• Community Connect Funding - Council will revert to the pre-June 2023 fare structure which will maintain free fares for 6-18 years olds in peak hours during the school terms, while 19–24 year-olds will pay full price. This will mean that school aged customers can travel to and from school for free which will maintain accessibility for all children irrespective of their socio-economic circumstances.
• Tertiary Services - Council will introduce tertiary student fares. This is aligned to direction within the draft Government Policy Statement on land transport to increase the fare recovery ratio. It will also reduce funding required from Regional Council, the University of Waikato and Toi Ohomai by $24,000 in total.
• Increasing School Bus Services - Council has allocated funding to provide an additional 11 daily dedicated school bus trips, serving nine schools. This enables school students to continue benefiting from free and safe bus travel, supports equitable access to education for all children in the region, and helps reduce congestion and emissions caused by private vehicles.