Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association Inc June 2021
Submission to Tauranga City Council - Long Term Plan 2021-2031
Executive Summary:
The Council and Commissioners describe this 10 year plan is about “improved amenities for existing ratepayers and not about growth”. This is misleading as it is a growth budget with around 62% of funds allocated to growth, to be funded from the existing ratepayers. The proposed growth for Tauranga with the ongoing enlargement of the city’s boundary to accommodate more urban sprawl is not sustainable or good for Tauranga and its ratepayers who are being asked to continually fund this growth.
More urban sprawl means increased congestion, pressure on water supplies, traffic problems, poor public transport etc. It does not improve the quality of living In Tauranga. There is an opportunity to not repeat the same decisions and mistakes as made by most other NZ cities, which have created urban sprawl and ongoing future problems. Housing growth for the next 10 years can be accommodated inside the existing city boundaries with all the benefits of density and lower infrastructure costs.
This Long Term Plan just follows the old thinking of sprawl and congestion. This council has again missed a chance to do better, instead, tinkering with the unnecessary eg Cameron Rd.
Rate Increases:
The draft figures show the amount of rates taken will increase from $193 million now to $412 million over the LTP period. Regardless of the semantics about who pays what percentage of the rates, this is a shocking increase which means rates will be more than double (x 2.4). eg an average rate of $3000 becomes $3000 plus $4,200 or $7,200.
Also add the increased water charges and the increased cost of all the council services.
And on top of this, the WBOP regional council rate must be added.
This makes Tauranga rates amongst the highest in New Zealand. The proposed increases are excessive and there is no evidence that this Long Term Plan will provide any additional improvement in the quality of life for existing ratepayers.
Many ratepayers on fixed and low incomes cannot afford increases of this magnitude. Rates increases must be held to inflation plus 5% maximum.
Additional funding for growth should be sought from central government, not the ratepayer base.
Review rubbish scheme to include PAYT in 2022 Tauranga City Council imposed a new kerbside collection system on the ratepayers at an additional cost. Contrary to ratepayer requests, a Pay as You Throw (PAYT) rubbish option was not included. All decisions were made in secret and the reasoning has never been made public.
Interestingly WBOP which is sharing the new collection services and using the same contractor does offer a PAYT system. A review of the rubbish collection scheme is scheduled for 12 months after commencement. This review must include PAYT as one of the discussion points.
Papamoa East Interchange
The Papamoa East Interchange with the TEL has been in planning for years. It has been promised for years. It is needed now and must be built before any new development work starts in the Te Tumu Area. The major roads in the Papamoa area now are at capacity during peak flows. eg Papamoa Beach Rd, Te Okuroa Drive, Tara Rd.
These roads do not have the capacity or width to carry heavy construction traffic.
The cost of the PEI is increasing in every budget and it appears the TCC component of the project is also increasing. This interchange should be paid by central government, not by the Tauranga ratepayers.
Roads in Papamoa:
Many arterial roads in Papamoa are old and built for low volumes of traffic. Eg Papamoa Beach Road and Domain Rd. These roads need to be upgraded now to safely handle the current traffic volumes. Any improvements are always pushed way out into the future.
Other newer roads need to be built as per the original design and made 4 lane. eg Te Okuroa Dr, parts of Tara Dr to safely handle the increased traffic volumes. These investments are needed now.
Tauranga City Council Staff Renumeration and Competency
The LTP draft budget talks about increased staff levels and annual non-merit based wage rises for existing staff. The reasons given are increased work load and need to employ staff with the skills to work on the growth projects.
PRRA is recommending
1. the Council should be reviewed by an independent body to ensure that the structure is 'fit for purpose', efficient, and staffing levels are consistent with needs. This must be completed before the proposed increase in the staff budget from $66m to $80m.
2. Keep staff salary increases to same level as offered by the NZ Government to their employees.
Planting in Palm Beach Reserve, Wairakei Stream, Papamoa
The residents of this area want to keep the look and feel of this special area as it is now and has been for the last 30 years.
TCC staff have wasted resources and paid staff time to try and impose a planting plan in this area which the ratepayers reject. They have tried to confuse, spread false information and mounted an expensive PR campaign to get their way.
These efforts are an example of a dogmatic “council knows better than the ratepayer” attitude. It is a waste of time for all concerned.
PRRA is requesting that this planting be deleted and funding used for the upkeep of the existing cycle path through the reserve.
Better Road Management
The emphasis of this Long Term Plan is growth of new areas and the trade off looks to be continued neglect of the existing city roads. It is appreciated that many of the major roads are controlled by NZTA.
However there are many major roads under TCC control that can be better managed to provide for greater traffic flows and reduce travel times.
Examples
1. Turret Rd, Hairini bridge is currently a two lane bottleneck at the bridge site. The addition of a single lane bridge at the location of the old bridge piers would allow a tidal flow traffic solution during peak periods with three lanes available.
2. Remove the bottleneck that has been created on Cameron Rd through Greerton. Other recent roading initiatives, such as spending on Cameron Rd, have no merit and look only like a chase for any free government money on offer. Future growth sprawl will exacerbate the choking effect of these two bottlenecks.
Philip Brown On behalf of Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association Inc