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Tauranga remains one of New Zealand’s premier places to live, work and play.

No matter which way you look at it the business of providing infrastructure, services, amenities and future-proofing is an expensive and complex enterprise. We take this responsibility seriously and also believe that you, as residents, have a very important role to play in guiding our decisions.

Tauranga City Council has assets of $3.6 billion and an annual operating budget of around $156 million. There are currently 110,000 residents with this expected to grow to 160,000 by 2035.

This draft Ten Year Plan has been developed at a time when the global economic crisis is still having a significant impact on this community. Along with the PSA virus and the Rena we have had our share of unfortunate economic events. But however much these issues impact the business of today we are well aware that we cannot just consider today but must also prepare and plan for the future. We have built this draft Plan on that premise.

Two significant themes emerge from this Plan.

One theme of the strategy is to reduce debt by both selling off surplus property and also taking a conservative approach to the construction and maintenance of key infrastructure eg the Southern Pipeline timeframes and sportsfields. The Council is stretching the use of existing assets over longer periods of time.

The second theme is the investment this Council is making in those things that will support sound economic development and investment in the future e.g. the proposed tertiary campus in the CBD and the waterfront project.

In this Plan there are numerous ‘level of service’ changes that will bring about savings - such as changes to street

light renewals and chip seal versus hot mix. These savings are sometimes small on an annual basis but taken over ten years do provide a sustainable financial approach.

The consideration to cease the mobile library is a good example of a level of service change that demonstrates the tension between costs and benefits. We understand the benefit this service provides to the people who use it but also very clearly appreciate the costs of retaining this service for those who don’t. The question we must consider is should the mobile library service fairly be a cost on ratepayers or should it be a cost on users? And if the users can’t pay then why should the ratepayer pay?

It is sometimes easy to over-simplify the complexity of the big-business that is Tauranga City Council and/or to narrow your view down to one particular issue or cost that directly affects you. As you prepare your submissions to us for consideration we note that everything we do is connected. Everything has an impact on something else and nothing can be isolated. Our job is to try and balance all your interests across all the activities, services and amenities the Council provides.

Your feedback on these and any of the issues raised in this draft are much appreciated as we deliberate and construct a prudent financial path for the next ten years.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Mayor Stuart Crosby, Deputy Mayor David Stewart, Councillor Bill Faulkner, Councillor Bill Grainger, Councillor Catherine Stewart, Councillor Larry Baldock, Councillor Murray Guy, Councillor Rick Curach, Councillor Terry Molloy, Councillor Tony Christiansen and Councillor Wayne Moultrie

Tauranga City Council

Tauranga City Council Draft Ten Year Plan 2012-20222

CONTENTS

PART AWELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Introduction to the document and includes a message from the Mayor and Councillors.

SECTION 1 PAGE 7

OUR CITY

Information on Tauranga City including facts and general information about Tauranga.

SECTION 2 PAGE 11

OUR COUNCIL

Information on Tauranga City Council including your elected members, organisational structure, committee structures, financial summary and some general useful information.

SECTION 3 PAGE 23

MAJOR FOCUS

Information on all the known big issues that Tauranga City Council is facing and Council’s approach to dealing with them.

Outlines information on the major projects for Tauranga City over the next 10 years. Also includes Council’s financial strategy.

SECTION 4 PAGE 51

GUIDE TO THE PLAN

Information on what is in the Ten Year Plan, what you can expect, and how to read certain sections.

SECTION 5 PAGE 61

PLANNING & WORKING TOGETHER

Outlines Council’s commitment to certain stakeholders in the City as well as information on all Council Organisations and Council Controlled Organisations.

SECTION 6 PAGE 71

DECISION-MAKING FRAMEWORK

Details the decision-making framework applied by Council, including the community outcomes.

SECTION 7 PAGE 79

SIGNIFICANT ASSUMPTIONS

Details the assumptions the Council has made that underpin the projected financial and non-financial plans in this document.

SECTION 8 PAGE 89

GROUPS OF ACTIVITIES

Includes all of Council’s Activities and for each Activity outlines the future direction and actions, contribution to community outcomes, performance measures and financial and asset management information (An index to specific Activities can be found at the beginning of the Groups of Activities section).

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PART A (CONTINUED) PART BSECTION 9 PAGE 283

FINANCIALS

Council’s Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Financial Performance, Statement of Changes in Equity, Statement of Cashflows and Funding Impact Statement. It also includes Council’s accounting policies, Funding Impact Statements for each activity and the Audit Opinion.

SECTION 10 PAGE 361

USER FEES & CHARGES

Includes Council’s fees and charges for all activities.

GLOSSARY PAGE 403

A glossary of terms relating to the Ten Year Plan document.

CONTENTS

SECTION 11 PAGE 2

POLICIES

Council’s revised Revenue and Financing Policy and revised Rates Remission Policy as well as the Significance Policy and the new Active Reserves’ (sportsfields) Level of Service Policy.

SECTION 12 PAGE 27

STRATEGIES

Council’s revised Sport and Active Living Strategy, City Centre Strategy, Transport Strategy and Aquatics Strategy.

SECTION 13 PAGE 317

WATER AND SANITARY SERVICES ASSESSMENTS

Council’s revised Water and Sanitary Services Assessments.

Tauranga City Council Draft Ten Year Plan 2012-20224