Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Three big issues in Tauranga City Council's draft Long Term Plan eclipse all the other decisions we're proposing. The big issues are new infrastructure for growing suburbs, rates, and debt.

The draft Long Term Plan sets out the activities we propose to do during the next 10 years and how those activities will be funded.

Under this draft plan, the rates would only exceed 3.6 per cent once during the next 10 years and debt will not exceed $488 million.

We will ask for your feedback on our draft Plan from March 20 to April 20, 2015.

The draft plan will be available on our website shortly at www.tauranga.govt.nz and hardcopies will be available on request and at our libraries. We're looking forward to hearing what you think.

We heard your feedback wanting us to reinstate our mowing budget – so we did.

The Bay Cricket Oval at Blake Park requested a range of improvements to the facilities. We're proposing to grant $62,500 per year for training wicket maintenance on top of the current $120,000 for ground maintenance.

We're also proposing to build elevated earth mounds in Papamoa East as dry refuge for tsunami evacuations – adding $2.3 million in debt during 10 years.

Previous councils land-banked farms for potential sport field use. We're proposing to sell two of the three farms to develop Parau farms in Bethlehem as sport fields. More sports fields will be required in Te Tumu, Papamoa East, by 2028.

Did you know two local athletes have claimed NZ's fastest man title for four consecutive years. They both train on the Tauranga Domain athletics track.

We're proposing to fund half of the tracks replacement costs – up to $395,000. We are also working with Sport Bay of Plenty to create a user pays arrangement like we have done for the international hockey turf at Blake Park.

The future of the tropical display house on Cliff Rd is up for debate. We hope to save $100,000 each year by closing the house.

We're also proposing to fix the library stock budget at last year's amount of $798,000. This may mean less stock per capita as the city grows.

We're also looking at completing the urban cycle network by investing a little more than $500,000. We're not proposing to invest $500,000 into the cycleway from Tauranga to Omokoroa.

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.