The Revenue and Financing Policy describes how Council will use revenue and financing sources to fund its activities. Council reviews its Revenue and Financing Policy every three years as part developing the Long Term Plan. This year, we are proposing two changes outside of this normal review cycle. Submissions on these proposed amendments are being sought using the same process and timeline for the Annual Plan 2019/20.
Council is proposing new targeted rates to partially fund two activities. These are for the Community Engagement Activity, to provide transparency of revenue collected for regional safety and rescue services, and for the Regional Infrastructure Activity to allow for possible infrastructure funding that benefits specific geographic areas.
The section below outlines why we’re proposing the changes, and the other options we considered.
Community Engagement Activity
The Community Engagement Activity is currently funded 100% through general funds. The Annual Plan 2019/20 proposes a new approach to council funding of regional safety and rescue services which has led us to re evaluate whether this continues to be appropriate.
After considering the funding needs set out in the Local Government Act (2002) section 101(3)A, we think a targeted rate could be an appropriate way for us to fund regional safety and rescue services. Implementing a targeted rate would help us make sure the costs of this work matches the geographic distribution of benefits, ensures there is transparency of the costs and that these funds are only used for regional and rescue services. We are not proposing to set any targeted rate for this in 2019/20 – this amendment only enables targeted rate to be used in the future if it is considered appropriate. The other option we have is to fund regional safety and rescue services through general funds, which would not allow us to provide transparency, ring-fence funds, or match the geographic distribution of benefits.
Regional Infrastructure Activity
The Regional Infrastructure activity is currently funded 100% through reserves. After considering the funding needs set out in the Local Government Act (2002) section 101(3)A, we think a targeted rate could be an appropriate way for us to recover the cost of specific projects. Reserves or debt would be used for up-front costs, which would be recovered through general funds if there is region-wide benefit, or through targeted rates, if the benefit is limited to a certain geographic area. We are not proposing to set any targeted rate for this in 2019/20 – this amendment only enables targeted rates to be used in the future if it is considered appropriate.
Another option we have is to continue to fund the Regional Infrastructure Activity solely from reserves. While this has been appropriate to date, it may not be appropriate for the variety of funding requests that could be received in the future.
Related documents
- Revenue and Finance Policy - Consultation document
- Revenue and Finance Policy - Proposed (tracked changes)
- Revenue and Finance Policy - Funding Needs Analysis (tracked changes)
Make an online submission
From Monday 18 March until Monday 6 May you’ll be able to make an online submission here on our website.