Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Tauranga City councillors were confronted with mixed feelings of relief and jubilation this week as the New Zealand Transport Agency decided to take on all but $1 million of the $62.5 million debt left on Route K.

The new council had very little to do with this decision. I want to support Mayor Stuart Crosby in publicly thanking our staff, who worked tirelessly during the last five years on achieving this result.

The road will become a state highway, but there's no sign of the tolls going away.

This transaction has a ripple effect through council's finances. It will drastically improve our debt-to-revenue ratio, which will help lift our credit rating, which should lead to cheaper debt servicing.

Don't hold your breath for a rates decrease though. Any savings will more than likely go towards paying off our other debt.

But paying off the rest of council's debt too quickly will mean huge cuts to council's services or rate spikes. I believe this would kill the city. We need to strike a good balance.

Council's focus on managing our debt will still be a priority in the Long Term Plan.

Like I said in my earlier column ‘Sharpening council's axe', I believe Tauranga should be positioned as the world's best lightweight city known for its knockout punch.

This is easier said than done, because this week staff showed us the future investments council will need to consider during the next 30 years. There are some scary figures being put on the table.

But we're not sitting on our hands. On Wednesday we met with our SmartGrowth partners and other experts to look for better ways to fund infrastructure to service our growing population.

Nothing comes for free. There is always a balance between user pays and public benefit.

We already have private/public partnerships, but assets eventually get vested with council to take on the risk.

We're also looking at what our population will look like during the next 50 years.

Our population is set to be nearly 200,000 by 2063.

Most of this growth will be in the 65-plus age group, which is a worldwide trend.

Trying to fund a city with a growing population is a much better scenario than trying to fund a town with declining population, which many smaller towns are already struggling with throughout the developed world.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 027 6989 548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.