The proposed rate rise for current ratepayers in the Waikato will stay under three per cent for the 2017-18 annual plan.

Councillors voted to keep the proposed rate of 2.9 per cent after new information on cost increases were presented during the full meeting of the Waikato Regional Council on Tuesday.

The proposed rate rise will be formally adopted in June.

Chairman Alan Livingston says the 2.9 per cent enables the maintenance of essential services and accommodates new cost pressures, particularly for increased depreciation in flood protection assets as a result of asset revaluation increases.

'Councillors worked hard to keep the overall rate of increase at a reasonable level. We've had average rises at 0.3 per cent over the past four years, ranging from plus 1.3 per cent to negative 1.3 per cent.

'But we have had to go over that for next year to maintain current services as best we can in the face of significant new cost pressures.”

Alan thinks 2.9 per cent strikes a good balance between keeping rates down as much as possible, while providing important services, especially those focused on keeping the community and the environment safe.

The biggest extra item approved an estimated $530,000 for depreciation funding after a recent three-yearly revaluation of council assets, and primarily relates to flood protection in the Waihou and Piako rivers zones which saw heavy rainfall and flooding recently.

Another important extra item approved was $140,000 for two full time incident response staff to replace temporary staff, adds Alan.

'Their employment will allow the maintenance of current levels of service in responding to the likes of public complaints about environmental pollution incidents.”

Other significant new items being rated under the 2.9 per cent increase include:

• $200K for computer licence fees
• $113K to cover the cost of hiring a new group recovery manager for Civil Defence
• $129K in operational depreciation funding

To offset increased costs, reserve funding for central zone river management works in Hamilton will be utilised, given the healthy reserves balance.

A report to council also noted $100K in already allocated funding would be carried over from this year to next for the implementation of the Healthy Rivers Wai Ora Plan Change 1 for the Waikato and Waipa rivers.

'Our spreading costs of initial implementation for this ongoing key plan change over 10 years is helping us ease upward pressure on annual rate rises, and reflects the period of benefit the set up costs relate to.”

In February, the council reported significant investment in preparing for the plan change, including $1.68 million on information technology and $1.06M for initial implementation costs.

Other key items of extra expenditure reported then included:

• $500K for catchment works in Waipa, in conjunction with the Waikato River Authority
• $164K for costs related to establishing a new centre of Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Office operations in Hamilton
• $100K for additional passenger transport marketing