In less than three weeks, public consultation on the 2025-34 Waitaki District Council Long Term Plan will close.

As Mayor Gary Kircher, said in a Facebook livestream Q&A on Tuesday, February 11, "we've gone out with a 10.3% rate increase proposed for this coming year.

“We don't want to finish up with that; we want something smaller, and your feedback may help target what, where those cuts might happen."

We have 14,000 rateable properties in our district.

Whether one (or more) of them is yours or not, you get to have a say.

Submitting on WHAT exactly?

There are ten topics outlined in the Consultation Document.

Water. How to best manage the whole shebang and also, installing residential water meters.

Decoupling Tourism Waitaki and the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony – to create a separate fully-fledged Economic Development Agency (econ dev plus – so, not just tourism) and a stand-alone tourist attraction (penguin plus with expanded attractions, science and research functions).

Beach Road reinstatement (or not). How much do we want to keep one of our favourite local ocean-front drives?

Also… selling off some council property or charging some others a little more?

Of the millions of realisable property assets; what could we sell (Land? Community halls? Community housing?) and what should we “tax” (Airbnb-type accommodation)?

Also… capital expenditure. A chance to consider future spends on projects like the stadium and public toilets.

Also… council fees. Common things like dog registration and swimming pool charges, as well as things we likely never think about such as interment fees (burials - could go up to nearly $2,000) and “offensive trader” registration charges (not increasing but who knew that was a thing?!).

Submitting – Why SHOULD I?

We all live here and we don’t all agree on the same priorities.

You’ve all heard the saying, “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain” and yet, we all know that not voting has never stopped anyone from complaining - often loudly and boringly.

The council’s done a really good job at laying out the issues in as much or as little detail as most people would want.

So let's look at the top reasons people have for NOT submitting...

Reasons NOT to submit

1. Can’t be bothered.

Can’t help you with this one. But if you’ve read this far, chances are you could be bothered.

2. The council won’t listen anyway.

Last year’s Enhanced Annual Plan garnered 98 submissions.

About 25,000 people live here.

And… the last time I looked at submissions (what I call the great penguin-selling-shallow-fake of 2023), there was definitely a number of serial-submitters who had drunk the exact same Kool-Aid and regurgitated that same misinformation back in their submissions.

The consultation document lays out options and asks for preferences / feedback.

Ask yourself, do you want the council deciding on your water meter, your ocean-view drive, your community hall without you even having a say-so?

3 (closely related to 2). The council’s already made its mind up.

Yes, they have a preferred option, clearly outlined in all the information.

This doesn’t mean they’ve made their mind up – it’s literally the law to provide a preferred option. They have to do it.

4. I don’t feel informed enough.

Read the info. Watch a Q&A session. Go to a public meeting.

No, really.

There’s the bite-size info, the more detailed info and even extra-curricular reading for the geeks amongst us (no extra points but there could be some smug satisfaction).

There’s also in person and online Q&A sessions and heaps of information on the council’s Facebook page.

5 (closely related to no. 4). I don’t have the time to understand it all / write it all.

You don’t have to submit on everything!

Pick the stuff that matters to you.

We asked the council and they said, “people can skip through parts, or not provide an answer if they want to focus on one issue - but we encourage everyone to consider everything”.

Plus, “if people register on the site they can save their submission and come back to it”.

And before you go all sovereign citizen on me, all submissions have to have a name and contact details to count – them’s the rules.

BUT they do redact personal contact information other than name and suburb from the public submissions booklet

6. I pretty much trust the council to make the right decision.

Cool.

But think of it like organising a group holiday.

Where does everyone want to go, how long have we got, what do we want to see, what kind of experience do we want to have?

You want the group’s input, right?

I mean you might nail it and everyone’s happy but…

Consider submitting as a means of helping your trusted councillors have a bit more info to work with, so they can make the best holiday (future) out of all the available options.

Submitting, can ANYONE do it?

Submitting is open to everyone.

You do not have to be a ratepayer to submit.

You can submit on behalf of yourself, an organisation or a business.

The council’s spokesperson stated, “we often get organisations submitting via email, which allows them to focus on a single issue. That can be about one of our topics, but also if they have an issue or project they wish council to consider.”

Business owners can submit as themselves and state their business as an organisation they represent.

So, if we want our council to make decisions that represent our community – more of us need to submit.

It’s not rocket science.

Neither is the process of making a submission.

I submit, you've convinced me... now, HOW do I do it?

Boy, do we have choices.

Ok here’s goes;

1. Online.

There’s a form to fill out on council’s Let’s Talk Waitaki page. Just click on the Give your feedback button.

2. On paper.

Either print out your own submission form (from the consultation document) or pick one up at a council office or Waitaki District Library.

You can drop off your submission there too or post it to:

Long Term Plan Submission

Waitaki District Council

Private Bag 50058

Ōamaru 9444

3. Email

Send an email to [email protected]

4. Talk

Outline your key points in your feedback form and tick the box stating you’d like to speak to your submission.

So, what are you waiting for?

You’ve got until March 4 to get your stake in the sand.

Go for it!