Share your voice

The Annual Plan is the budget and work programme for Year 2 of Council’s 2021-2031 Long-Term Plan. It looks at how we’ll deliver and fund projects and services in the upcoming financial year.

We told the community what we would do in 2022-23 and we’re sticking to that. However, we didn’t foresee the major challenge of increasing costs driven mainly by the high rate of inflation New Zealand is experiencing when planning our 2022-23 budget and work programme during the Long-Term Plan. 

We asked the community to share their voice on proposed changes to increase Council’s borrowing to cover these cost pressures, rather than increase rates or cut projects. We also asked what they thought about new projects proposed in response to important issues identified by the community. 

Of the 263 responses:

• 121 (46%) respondents were in support of increasing budgets and covering this by borrowing. Of these, 27 (22%) respondents made specific comments that they supported using debt, and 5 (4%) respondents commented that they were against rates increases.
• 100 (38%) respondents chosen the option of decreasing spending on projects planned for in the Annual Plan to cover increased costs. Of these, 45 (45%) supported reducing spend but did not identify specific projects. 
• 23 (9%) respondents chose the option of increasing the budgets and cover this by increasing rates above the 4.9%. 16 (70%) of these made comments – of which 6 (38%) specifically commented on their support for increasing rates to cover the increased costs.

Public opinion factored strongly into decisions made about Hamilton City Council’s draft Annual Plan. 

Rates will not go over the average increase of 4.9% as outlined in the Long-Term Plan. We’ll borrow to cover unforeseen costs and cover projects. 

Several projects and operational activities will be introduced. Funding has been allocated for the creation of school travel plans, a new grant fund is being made available for community application to implement projects from our Welcoming Plan, improved maintenance of the Hamilton Cemetery Burial Lawn and a raft of cycling initiatives. 

Read the Our Hamilton media story Council responses to public feedback on Annual Plan for more information.

The 2022-23 Annual Plan will be adopted by Council on 30 June. It will be available on our website after this date. 

In October/November 2021, we asked the community if a safer speed area should be implemented in all residential streets within the Garnett Avenue area (Forest Lake). This would mean a speed limit change from 50kph to 40kph. The proposed change aligns with our Hamilton Speed Management Plan, which is about achieving safe and appropriate speeds to allow residential neighbourhoods to have a safe environment to live and play. Minor works were also proposed at key locations within this area to support the lower speed limit. The engagement was targeted to those who live in this area of Hamilton.

We received 53 submissions and the majority of these responses supported the safer speed area proposal and the overall objective of making their neighbourhood safer for all road users to get around.

The safer speed area, and change in speed limit to 40kph, for the Garnett Avenue Area in Forest Lake was approved via council resolution and will be implemented from May 2022.

In August 2021, Hamilton City Council underwent a wider representation review, following the decision in May 2021 to establish Maaori wards for the next two local government elections. We sought feedback over a six-week period on our initial proposal for wider representation arrangements. The review was done to ensure fair and effective representation for all Hamiltonians, in line with legislative requirements.

Our initial proposal was to:

• Retain current general ward arrangement of six councillors elected in the East Ward, and six councillors elected in the West Ward.
• Retain the mayor elected at-large.
• Increase the total number of Councillors to 14.
• Introduce one city-wide Maaori ward with two Maaori ward councillors.
• Not introduce community boards.

We received 451 submissions with a variety of views put forward.

• 177 responses (39%) supported the initial proposal in its entirety.
• 274 responses (61%) did not support the initial proposal in its entirety.
• 12 people had their say at the Hearing and Engagement Committee meeting via zoom. 

The consultation asked submitters whether they supported the initial proposal or not, and why. There were four key components of the proposal, of which 3 out of 4 were supported by most of those who commented on them as below:

1. Increase total number of Councillors to 14: Of the 296 who commented on this, 143 (48%) supported the proposed increase to 14 Councillors.
2. Retain the current East/West general ward arrangements with 6 Councillors in each: Of the 175 who commented on this, 105 (60%) supported keeping the current East and West general wards.
3. Introduce a city-wide Maaori ward with two Maaori ward Councillors: Of the 52 who commented on this, 41 (79%) supported a city-wide Maaori ward.
4. No community boards: Of the 43 who commented on this, 27 respondents (63%) disagreed with the proposal and instead sought the introduction of community boards.

Many comments (over a third) were on topics out of scope for this consultation, particularly in relation to Maaori wards - a decision which has already been made. This has tended to slightly skew the ratio of support/non-support of the proposal. Therefore, it is important to note that:

• 99 comments from the 274 submissions that did not support the initial proposal said this was because they did not support the introduction of Maaori wards.
• If the submissions rejecting the proposal on these grounds are disregarded as out of scope, the balance of submissions for and against the initial proposal is closer to 50/50.
• Several submissions also referenced inadequate levels of Maaori representation in general. However, the number of Maaori ward seats is determined by population proportion set by legislation.

On 11 November, Councillors considered the public submissions and voted to approve the initial proposal as the final proposal for representation arrangements, adding two city-wide Maaori ward seats to the otherwise unchanged Council table.

This decision was publicly notified on 17 November.

Appeals

The appeal period ran from 17 November to 17 December 2021.Appeals were forwarded to the Local Government Commission. The appeal hearing was held on 8 March 2022.  

The Commission determination endorsed Council’s initial proposal for representation, of six East Ward seats, six West Ward seats, and two Kirikiriroa Maaori Ward seats.

 These representation arrangements will come into effect for Hamilton’s 2022 local government elections.