Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Who would've thought that an organisation in 2016, which owns $3 billion of assets and spends $185 million annually, has archaic computer systems that struggles to share information internally?

Poor ICT systems can slow organisations down, entrench department silos, and may lead to inaccurate financial modelling.

This week, Tauranga City Council presented our draft annual plan to the public for feedback. It's a budget that enables us to successfully manage a growing city, while keeping rates and debt below what we forecasted last year.

Current low interest rates has given us an amazing opportunity to fix legacy issues within the organisation. Previous councils cut internal spending for a short-term gain, but it created long-term problems for the city.

For example, I've heard some employees cannot move to Tauranga because their home hasn't been consented and the rental market is too tight.

One way to fix the housing issue is to properly resource our building consent service. This means increasing staff and providing better ICT systems to process the huge number of building consents on time.

So yes, we are proposing to increase our staff numbers next year. Most of the new staff will not be funded by ratepayers, such as building consent officers.

Next year's budget is about getting the right balance to successfully manage a growing city. We're achieving this with less debt and less rates than we originally forecast last year.

Personally, I want to leave room on council's balance sheet to give us plenty of options to resolve council's mouldy building later in the year.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 0276989548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.