A message from Mayor Mahé with Mahé Drysdale

Articles about council annual plans probably make most readers’ eyes glaze over, but I’m hoping this one will prove the exception.

Tauranga City Council elected members and staff have started work on the draft 2025/2026 Annual Plan, which will take effect from July 1 next year, with genuine and comprehensive community involvement being a key goal.

To shape the draft plan and our future direction, we have identified key guiding principles that recognise that in the current economic environment, we face some important choices on where we prioritise our investment and spending. Despite the significant cuts required to ensure we stay within our financial constraints, we are still heading towards a record infrastructure spend for the city.

We know that many ratepayers are struggling and want to know that their rates payments really count, so our annual “budget” must be affordable. That means that everything we do has to provide value for money and deliver outcomes and quality services that will benefit us all.

Alternative ways 

We also need to look at alternative ways of bringing in revenue so we’re less reliant on rates funding.

It’s a balance – moving our city forward, while making prudent financial decisions to help Tauranga reach its potential in a way that is fair and affordable for ratepayers. The upshot is that we will have to make some changes to the plans set out in the 2024-2034 Long-term Plan, so it’s vitally important that you get involved and provide us with the guidance we need to make good decisions on the community’s behalf.

Guiding principles 

So what are the guiding principles that will take us towards a balanced and affordable budget? In summary, they look like this: looking after what we’ve got; everyone pays a fair share; ongoing financial, economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability; affordability; robust and transparent financial analysis; growth pays for growth; and value for money.

There’s a lot of detail sitting behind those headings, but for clarity, “value for money” means achieving the most advantageous combination of cost, quality and sustainability, and refers to the efficient, effective and economical use of public resources to achieve the best possible outcomes for the city.

An indicative plan will be reported to the council on December 9; elected members will then provide direction on what’s required to bring together the draft annual plan we want to take to the community early next year. By March, we’ll have a consultation document available detailing the options involved and we will be seeking your feedback on what is most important for Tauranga.

We want this to be a “peoples’ plan” and we’ll be looking to create some fresh and simple ways for the community to get involved. More on that early next year.