Preparing the NPDC 2027 Long Term Plan - Part Three – Possible options, other new legislation, possible new debt, and, how is the money spent now

The 2027 Long Term Plan - Part Three – Possible options, other new legislation, possible new debt, and, how is the money spent now

Following on from the challenges our 2025 elected officials face with the next LTP, the Alliance asks questions about possible options for savings, there is more new legislation, debt needs to be kept on our radar next year and where is the money being spent now.

• So what are the tough decisions that have to be made.

• And how do decisions get made with out pricing everyone out of using the swimming pools with hiked fees, or closing libraries. That is not what any in the community want.

One time fixes may need to be looked at to get us out of this mess. Some harsh reality conversations may need to take place.

The Alliance asks out loud if some of the following needs to be considered:

• There may need to be discussions about selling a few assets – not in a dire sort of way – but unused parks or buildings that are just not being used. New Plymouth has 110 parks and not all are being maintained now and maintaining all the new projects as well isn’t going to be possible – something has to give. Is this an option on a very small scale ?

• Should a one off withdrawal from the PIF fund be considered ? A one off withdrawal from the PIF fund has to have a 75% vote in agreement from councillors and the PIF finance Guardians have to agree. The PIF fund is legislated and is a Council CCO with investors who are the guardians of the trust funds. They work independently from the council for decisions. The fund is managed by the PIF guardians – not the NPDC.

• Many years ago there was a one year fixed amount to build a second water tower as the Council was having issues with supplying water. All of that targeted rates income went to the water supply issue. Perhaps a one year extra targeted rate may be needed to get us ahead of the many challenges ?

• There was a discussion by elected officials about providing them with information to be able to consider buying out contracts for some of the projects on the list. Remember we are talking about 500 active projects. The one-off short term cost will take enormous pressure off the full delivery of some projects, and the ongoing maintenance costs that will be needed. Will the community support this option ?

• Going forward we really need to be wary of getting involved with NZTA projects and NZTA setting the very expensive rules of how these will be delivered. NZTA prefers concrete pathways rather than gravel pathways, and expensive traffic calming options, as examples.

• Is it time to mothball the art galleries, or at least get them operating on much smaller budgets ? Is it time they fundraise a big chunk of their own funds and not rely on just ratepayers to cover all the costs, for both galleries ?

• And we would add staff numbers at the NPDC have to come down. Based on population size we have a higher number of staff pro rata, and a higher number of high paid managers than most other councils. The NPDC needs to closely look at what priorities are needed with the operation of the Council and what positions go with those priorities and a realistic, affordable, reduced, staffing level needs to be put in place.

A new piece of legislation has been delivered by the recent coalition government. The Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Act 2026.

 

The government has defined what the core service are for a Council – what must be provided and other things that can be provided if they are acceptable to the community.

This legislation is in place to “clip the wings” of Councils across the country who want to keep spending on gold plated projects and ignore the fundamental infrastructure the community needs.

We are a little concerned about debt levels as the water services are being split off the NPDC books in 2027.

The Water Company will have separate debt for drinking water and wastewater, and Stormwater with new laws must have its own mini Long Term Plan – and the current $429M of debt for the NPDC will be split up in different directions in 2027.

This will make it look like the NPDC has only about $290M in debt in 2027 – giving an ability to borrow up to the PIF fund – giving a possibility of significant new debt. In March 2026 the PIF Fund value was is $426.5 M.

Roughly $140M is going to be transferred to water debt – mostly the new Water Company and some for stormwater being separate on the Council books.

• We have concerns about debt increasing once things are split out and not being very obvious that large amounts of new debt have been taken on by the NPDC. This is something we will keep on our radar.

To achieve the Draft LTP options:

The NPDC needs a $20M permanent reduction off the Long Term Plan budget.  

The operating budget for the NPDC is what brings down the amount needed in rates – it is the ongoing operating budget which affects the rates.

The following are a break down of some of the current costs of rates for the services we receive:

• Stuff recently mentioned in a story that $1M in rates = roughly 1% of the total rates. Some of the services listed below have a percentage of rates figure.

List of Council Services with amount of rates needed:

$2M for Adaptation (Climate Change) and Emergency management

$14M for Community and recreational services

3% of rates to run Len Lye

6% to museum

2% to Todd Energy Pool

$11M for Governance Planning and reporting – Includes new requirements from new Legislation

Iwi Partnerships 1%

Communications 1%

Customer support <1%

Contact Centre < 1%

$12M for Parks and Reserves

2% for running Pukekura Park

All other items 1% or less for operating and maintenance budgets

$11M for Public regulatory

Partnerships with IWI (land management decisions required in law) <1%

Mention in here about increasing fees and charges across the board – consents etc

$5M for Roading and Transport

2% Roads

1% Traffic Controls – street lights, Traffic Lights, Line Marking, Road signage, traffic calming

$8M for Wate Management

2% Bins and recycling

3% Kerbside collection

Food for thought about what areas people may see are high costs, or that have potential for some savings ?

Just a reminder, again, the Long Term Plan process is the way the community gives permission to the NPDC to spend your rates income in the next 10 years.

If the community wants rates to be kept affordable going forward then people must get involved with the LTP consultation early next year.

The consultation will be out in February or March and we will remind people closer to the time.

Please tell others how important the Long Term Plan is next year and how many challenges this city is now facing, making it even more important that the NPDC finances will be sustainable, and our rates will be affordable, going forward.