A major piece of work crosses the finish line this week when Council adopts its Annual Plan and budget for the 2023-24 financial year.

This work is not quite as exciting as the Crusaders/Chiefs game on Saturday, but it impacts the daily lives of people who live here – like having safe drinking water, somewhere to take your rubbish, and roads and footpaths to get around.

Rates will increase on average by 5.7 per cent, which is slightly higher than the 5.5 per cent we signalled for Year 3 of the Long Term Plan – a pretty good result considering inflation, interest and the current cost of living.

Much like the Crusaders, we are sticking to our game plan and tackling everything we must. We have a big work programme to get through and that includes new work like membrane filtration for the Mt Somers drinking water supply, as well as repairs and maintenance and a daily focus to deliver everyday services.

Council looks after infrastructure, assets and facilities worth about $939 million and we estimate it will cost $77.6m over 2023-24 to run and improve those services. As you would expect, a big chunk of the operating expenditure is on drinking water and roads.

Though Council did not consult with the community on the Annual Plan given the rate rise was so close to that forecast in the Long Term Plan, Councillors have taken on board the community’s comments about the condition of some roads – an extra $1 million has been added for road reconstruction, taking the total transport budget (less Waka Kotahi’s contribution) to around $13.2m.

To comply with new national drinking water standards, we are also spending close to $3m on UV disinfectant treatment upgrades to several drinking water supplies, including Ashburton, Fairton, Mayfield, Chertsey and Dromore.

Another project that is important is the remediation of the southwest slope of the Ashburton landfill, commonly known as Mt Ash by those who mountainbike or walk along it.

The floods of 2021 came close to exposing the landfill’s interior and so the remediation work that has already started is about shoring up the foot of the landfill closest to the river.

That involves putting in a series of concrete walls that will deflect any future floodwaters from the landfill and ensure what was dumped yesteryear will not be exposed and washed out to sea.

This is one of our smaller projects, at $55,000, but equally important to get on and do.

The Annual Plan will be adopted by Council this week and, in a separate resolution, the rates will be struck.

This will provide the resources needed to execute our game plan.