Annual Plan 2022-23

Closed 20 May 2022

Opened 20 Apr 2022

Contact

07 8386699

haveyoursay@hcc.govt.nz

Feedback updated 6 Jul 2022

We asked

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. 

You said

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.

We did

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. 

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

 

Hamilton City Council’s 2022-23 Annual Plan is the budget and work programme for Year 2 of the 2021-31 Long-Term Plan. The Annual Plan looks at how we can deliver and fund what we said we’d do, and need to do, in the upcoming financial year as part of the Long-Term Plan. It’s also a chance for us to check in to see if there are any changes we need to make, to address what’s happening in our community and the impact any external factors are having on our organisation.

The good news is Council is on track to deliver what we said we’d do in 2022-23 as laid out in the 2021-2031 Long-Term Plan.

However, this year there is also a major challenge that we didn’t foresee when putting together the budget for Year 2 of the Long-Term Plan – increasing costs driven mainly by the high rate of inflation New Zealand is experiencing.

We’ve also identified additional projects to tackle emerging needs and issues.

Here's a summary of the key changes

Our operating spending for the 2022-23 year has increased by just over $10 million due to:

Increase in inflation assumption on operating costs (see more below) 5.4M
Cost pressures consisting of: 4.54M
  • Increases in our electricity costs $1.34M  
  • Additional spend on cyber security $1.03M  
  • Increase in an existing contract for sludge removal from Pukete Wastewater Treatment Plant $376,000  
  • Timing of a sub-regional three waters project that we planned to do last year $750,000  
  • Other changes to existing costs $437,000  
  • Other end-of-year adjustments $600,000  
New operating projects (see what these are on the New Projects page) $370,000
Increase in operating spend in draft 2022-23 Annual Plan budget $10.31M


Our capital spending for the 2022-23 year has increased by just over $43 million due to changes in existing programmes funded by Waka Kotahi and some new projects.

We want to hear your feedback on these.