Financial Policies consult extended.

Thu 19 Apr 18.

Anyone wanting to provide feedback on Council's proposed Combined Financial Policies comprising amendments to its Development Contributions Policy, Rates Remission Policy, Rates Postponement Policy or the new Rates Discount Policy has an extra week to do so until next Thursday 26 April.

Group Manager Customer Services Pauline Welch said that in addition to the consultation on the Long Term Plan (LTP) issues taking place over the past month Council has also been seeking feedback on a number of other matters meaning people have had a lot to consider.

Along with the LTP specific issues we have used the consultation period to ask for feedback on a number of other things being; the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, our application to join the Local Government Funding Agency, the revised Revenue and Financing Policy and the Combined Financial Policies, she said.

We recognised that this was a lot of consultation all at once but there were good reasons why we needed to do it this way including the need to consult follow a strict legislated process, the need to adopt some things together, and the need to manage workflow and timeframes.

Stretching the consultation period out was not really practical and also risked consultation fatigue' with both the community and Council.

Ms Welch said that with so much consultation at one time we concerned that people may find it all a bit overwhelming and maybe miss something that in hindsight they might have liked to have a say on.

All of the separate consultation issues with the exception of Combined Financial Policies were linked to LTP issues and as such covered in the LTP Consultation Document giving them a bit of a higher profile.

As such although the changes proposed in the Combined Financial Policies are not major we want to ensure that anyone who may be interested has the best possible opportunity to hear about the issues and provide feedback if they choose to do so.

We have extended the consultation period out for these by a week until Thursday 26 April which is the latest date that still allows us to include any feedback in the Hearings.

Anyone wanting to know more about the proposals for the Combined Financial Policies should see Council's website ruapehudc.govt.nz or drop by their local Council office to pick up a Statement of Proposal.

For more info see: https://goo.gl/8NCYcL

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