Annual plan now requires Government oversight
From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Councils will need approval from the government department handling the three waters reform before they can adopt the 2023-24 annual plan.
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) involvement is a new step and not a layer of scrutiny previously required, Ashburton District Council chief executive Hamish Riach said.
“It is based on the requirements of the recently passed Water Services Entities Act, and is aimed at DIA oversight of council’s decisions during the lead up to the new Water Services Entities becoming operational on July 1, 2024.
“So as I understand it, we need to seek DIA’s approval for the adoption of our annual plan, and DIA will presumably be looking at the manner in which we are treating our three waters assets to be appropriate.”
A DIA spokesperson said the oversight, under the Water Services Entities Act, is to ensure decisions by local authorities do not significantly impact the water services entities.
They will look to see if councils are delaying necessary projects or stockpiling debt for when the assets, work programmes, and debt transfer to the new entities next year.
The area the DIA will be focussed on is the Ashburton council’s decision to defer some renewals to allow for additional road funding and keep the rates increase as close to that forecast in the long-term plan as possible.
“Council has added $1m to unsubsidised roading because of concerns at the condition of our network," Riach said.
“Council has also agreed that, given the historic difficulties of completing all our annual capital work ambitions in the water area and an amount of work brought forward when we did the CBD upgrade, we should reduce the anticipated amount of budgeted work in the 2023-2024 year and reduce our funding of depreciation to match that reduced spend.”
The addition of the roading money and the reduction in three waters renewals “work in opposite directions for the overall rate increase but do impact different groups of ratepayers differently”.
Best way to use leftovers?
I'm sure you've got some excess ham at home or cold roast potatoes.
What are some of your favourite ways to use leftover food from Christmas day? Share below.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.8% Summer
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36.7% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
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