Hutt City Council

Good, sound stewardship of our finances and prioritisation of spending on strategic objectives.

Assess investment opportunities, for example, expanding Urban Plus, which traditionally caters for the elderly.

Review council investments and expenditure with view to reducing where appropriate. Holding fees and charges as much as possible.

Continuing rates relief for those in need and reducing rate increases to absolute minimum.

Investigate options for growing the rating base and encouraging investment in our city.

Committed to a rates freeze for three years so residents can weather the economic depression caused by central government's inflationary policies.

Focus council on delivering on its core services and stop investing in vanity projects. Spend wisely on things that serve the community.

Pay down debt to reduce the need for rates increases. Council should divest itself from non-core business and encourage local competition.

Focus on core responsibilities to keep rates reasonable.

Reduce fees and charges where these are disproportionate to the benefit provided.

Reduce debt and oppose incurring unnecessary debt.

Review sports fees and charges to community groups using council facilities.

Keep our significant capital programme within the prudent debt limits set.

Achieve a balanced budget no later than 2028-29.

Review how council rates areas/businesses/developments to assess if (still) best practice/equitable.

Advocate a review and, if appropriate, recasting of council (non fixed) long term plan expenditure.

Stop the extortionate rates increases which are set to double. Restore financial discipline.

Go "back to the books" and cut unnecessary corporate overheads. Increase frontline services to deliver on time.

Stop the unforgivable $100 million increase in administration spending by this council. Reduce the financial burden on the city and people.

Introduce a website that makes it a lot easier for rate payers to see where their money is being spent.

Educate the rate payers on council debt and what that means for them as rate payers and future rate payers of Hutt City.

Review the council long term plan to ensure excessive spending is reduced to prevent doubling of rates planned within next 10 years.

Stop any and every wasteful spending to reduce the excessive rate increase.

Invest in improving core services that are essential such as good roading, infrastructure, rubbish and leaky pipes.

Analyse every current spending and apply financial prudence where possible to reduce council debt.

Ensure core services continue, but build community resilience reserves for quick return to revenue generation from likely disaster events.

Ensure residents get good value for money for their rates with council services and assets properly funded to function as required.

Alter fees and charges to both encourage positive behaviours and activities, and discourage negative/undesirable activities.

Ensure that every rates dollar is spent wisely.

Understand the benefits and costs before any new project is approved. If we do this project then what can we not do.

Ensure basics are covered and met, with transparent communication with the community, rather than focus too much on unnecessary pet projects.

Measure and value the cost of things in more than financial terms, ie environmental, health, etc., as they will save costs in the future.

Consider decisions through a short, medium and long-term lens so that the risk isn't predominantly held by just our future generations.

Prioritise projects that are going to provide the best value for the ratepayers of our city.

Invest in projects that have co-benefits and can demonstrate positive social, environmental and economic impacts.

Ensure developers pay their fair share for the cost of infrastructure required by new housing in our city.

Control spending – cost of living is out of control.

Empower locals – have locals manage their own issues at lower cost and quicker than having council manage this.

Three Waters/amalgamation – will this really bring cost benefits to us?

Revise the rates formula to revert back to the rental value method, which I believe is fairer than the current method.

Ensure ratepayers are getting value for money, rather than reducing rates, because the city needs more investment in the infrastructure.

Developers of new builds should pay development fees that meet the cost of the extra infrastructure needed to provide for that growth.

Investment in core infrastructure, resilience is the priority; this should be debt (not rates) funded to spread costs across asset lifetimes.

If water services reform goes ahead, the bills to residents from the new 'entities' should be matched with falls in their rates bills.

Institute a budget guideline that rates growth will be limited to Consumer Price Index + 1 percent per annum.

Conduct a review of what appears to be a material growth in council overhead and staff numbers without any growth in responsibilities.

Investigate alternative funding mechanisms to development contributions that are less distortionary on house prices.