Annual Plan 2025/26 - Our plan to meet the challenges ahead

Current Consultations

The full consultation document can be downloaded here:

Have your say 1 May – 23 May 2025

The coming year will be a challenging one for a number of reasons, but I’m confident that the plan we’re proposing to adopt is the best option for us to find the balance between cost savings and investment in community infrastructure and facilities and create a growth enabling environment in the Timaru District.

While some of the dual headwinds of high inflation and high interest rates are beginning to subside, changes to central government priorities, major reforms of core council services and one of the most unstable global environments we we've seen in years have meant we’ve had to take a serious look at everything we do.

The issue we’re having to start to tackle in this Annual Plan is that we have an operational deficit, this is that our day to day expenses outstrip the income that we generate through rates, fees and charges.
While we could raise rates to a higher level to help close this gap, in our view the community isn’t in the position to support the rates rises this would require.

We’ve heard the community clearly that they feel we have to ‘cut our cloth’ so have been working hard to cut costs and increase efficiency to counter the increasing costs we’ve faced.

While people understandably look at the large projects with large price tags like the Stadium and Theatre, they have a far smaller effect on your rates bills as they are paid off over a long period of time. This means the ratepayers of today aren’t stuck paying the full cost of something that generations will benefit from.

The real savings are made at a smaller day-to-day level. Council staff have been working hard to reduce our these costs by cutting spending where they can and looking at more efficient ways of doing things. While you may not see a lot of these savings, I can assure you that no stone has been left unturned through the organisation.

For example, we have undertaken a project looking at all the surplus land we own and putting everything we can up for sale. We’ve also been looking at all the services we use from printers to electricity to IT equipment to see if we’re getting the best deal. Another cost saving is looking to minimise the use of contractors and consultants where we can, and bringing services in house where it makes sense from a financial or service perspective.

This work by council staff is having a positive effect on our bottom line, and due to this we are proposing to bring the 12% planned rates rise in our Long Term Plan down to 9%.

In this plan we also detail some other savings options we have at our disposal. However, these would be more noticeable through reductions in services such as mowing and weeding, shorter operational hours for some of our facilities, and dropping levels of community funding.

We’re putting our ideas out there and really want to hear what you think about them.

Unfortunately, the only other lever we have when it comes to reducing costs at the council is to reduce its salary costs, so at the moment we’re consulting with staff on a significant restructuring of nearly every department. This is a really difficult process for all the staff of the organisation, but unfortunately it’s required for the long term sustainability of the council.

As we plan the year ahead, it is with some significant uncertainties in mind, and in and an environment of major reform being pursued by central government. We’ll be talking about the future of water shortly, as well as the future of the resource management act and how we deliver building services.

Local Government is in a period of major change, so it’s critical that everyone takes an active role in council processes. Over the next few pages we’ll lay out the challenges we face and our suggested solutions to help Timaru District continue to be a great place to live, we really want to hear what you think about them and we welcome any ideas you may have.

Nigel Bowen
Mayor/ Koromatua

Submissions

Click here to have your say on our web form, or you can fill out the form in The Courier and return to the address on the form.

Seeking specific feedback on further savings

Reducing roading spend to more closely match government funding priorities

A major change announced after the Long Term Plan was adopted was the new funding priorities from Government delivered through their Transport Funding Policy.

A new focus on pothole prevention and road maintenance meant that other areas of safety and maintenance work that were previously funded was no longer eligible for subsidy, and need more rates funding to continue at current levels

However, there is the option to save cost by aligning our maintenance plan more closely to the Government priorities by reducing funding for certain areas, primarily footpaths, bridges and garden beds and the things that make the streets look tidy.

In the community, this would mean things such as:

  • Less maintenance of green spaces alongside roads, less mowing and spraying.
  • Less graffiti removal.
  • Less footpath maintenance, or footpaths going significantly longer before replacement.
  • Less street light maintenance.
  • Less snow clearance and ice gritting in rural areas.
  • Less maintenance of bridges, mainly in rural areas.
  • Fewer Christmas Decorations.

There's more details here:

Reducing services

This could involve reduction of opening times for facilities, making seasons for summer pools or daily opening times shorter, reducing hours of customer services and increasing time to resolve enquiries.

Reducing the amount of funding given out via various funding grants

Each year we provide almost $700,000 to community groups to support a range of activities from events to heritage and natural environmental protection, youth initiatives, support for traffic management and grants for cycleways.

A reduction in these would allow us to reduce our operating expenses each year but may affect the viability of a number of community events and organisations.

Council welcomes your views on potential options it could use to reduce this impact for 2025/26 and in developing a longer term solution. Details on how to share your views on these and any other topics are above.

There are more details of the grants we give out here:

Sample Property Rates

The table below shows the proposed 2025/26 rates for a sample of typical residential properties in urban communities and sample rural and commercial/industrial properties. This is based on Council’s preferred option of 9%. NOTE: These tables only detail Timaru District Council rates, not the regional rates which feature on TDC bills, but are set by Environment Canterbury.

Sample Residential Property Rates

These samples are based on an individual property with a land value average for the town and that receives ‘urban’ levels of service such as wheelie bins, water, sewerage and stormwater. This is why the General Rates are similar to the targeted rates.

Sample Primary/Rural and Commercial Property Rates

Rural and commercial properties are a lot more complex to give examples of due to the wide range of different types of property. As rural properties get less ‘urban’ services they often pay a smaller amount of targeted rates. Commercial, Industrial and Accommodation pay a ‘differential’ (see box) to reflect the commercial gain they make from council services. They often also receive services that attract a targeted rate.

Proposed Policy Amendments

Council is also seeking feedback on two proposed minor amendments to its Revenue and Financing Policy, which outlines how Council funds its activities and who pays for them.

The proposed changes are to clauses 6.7, 6.8 and 7.2, relating to how the proceeds of asset sales are utilised.

The full, current policy is available here:

The full, proposed policy (highlighting changes from the current policy) is available here:

Supporting Information

Further information

If you have any questions about making a submission or the Annual Plan Hearing, you can email submission@timdc.govt.nz or call 03 687 7200.

Annual Plan Hearing

Anyone who has made a submission can request to speak to the Councillors directly about their views at the Annual Plan Hearing. You can do this in person (preferred where possible) or remotely .

If you’ve indicated that you want to speak to Council about your submission, we will contact you directly to arrange further details.

  • When: Tuesday 27 May 2025, starting at 9am. (If Required)
  • Where: Council Chamber at the Timaru District Council, 2 King George Place, Timaru.

The Council agenda and full hearing timetable can be found on our Agendas and Minutes page at least two days prior to the Hearing.

Last updated: 01 May 2025