Beloved tulip beds and award-winning gardens have been saved from the shears after Rotorua councillors voted against trimming the city's beautification budget.

It potentially means 15 jobs will also be saved from the chopping block, with four more also spared as a proposal to cease the museum education programmes went unsupported.

Rotorua Lakes councillors deliberated on its draft Annual Plan on Wednesday and Thursday, with a final version to be adopted by June 28.

Many proposals in the draft were cost-cutting measures aimed at limiting the rates rise to the 7.22 per cent consulted on. Post-consultation revisions by council staff reduced the draft increase to 6.25 per cent prior to deliberations.

City beautification cost-cutting proposals totalling $935,000 in savings included reducing weeding bark gardens and removing Ngongotahā's hanging baskets as well as flower beds in the city centre.
Eighty per cent of submitters did not agree with these services being cut.

Organisational enablement deputy chief executive Thomas Collé told councillors its contractor InfraCore had signalled the proposals put 15 jobs at risk and may result in its nursery closing.

'There are quite significant ramifications flowing through to InfraCore.”

Disestablishment of roles came with its own costs, he said.

Councillor Rawiri Waru said it had a direct impact on people's livelihoods. He asked how hard it would be to bring back capacity if the bark garden servicing cuts were only temporary.

Sport, recreation and environment manager Rob Pitkethley said given InfraCore had struggled with recruiting in the last financial year, it would not be easy to fill any gaps created.

Councillor Fisher Wang said there had been consistent messages from the community and businesses that city beautification services were 'incredibly important”.

'We heard during the hearings that there were many young and old that valued living in Rotorua because of these gardens … it contributes to their wellbeing and lifestyle in Rotorua and I would really hate to see this taken away and the detrimental impacts to community wellbeing.”

Councillor Robert Lee said the city was famous for its award-winning gardens.

'We've been told very clearly ... we love our tulips, we love our gardens. That is part of who we are as a city.”
Councillor Don Paterson said he valued the gardens but believed the council had gone on a 'spending spree” in deliberations the day before, reintroducing costs to the budget.

He said he wanted a few tweaks to the beautification service to cut the costs to ratepayers.

A majority voted to maintain the total funding and service level.

Another topic submitters were interested in was a proposal to stop museum education programmes; 69 per cent did not agree. About 6000 local children benefitted from the service, and cutting it would result in the loss of two full-time and two part-time jobs.

Councillors agreed to continue funding the service, and Paterson asked for a report investigating the potential for new partnerships and alternative funding sources.

Other decisions made included doubling parking fees to $2 and increasing the number of paid parks, closing the library three hours early on a Sunday, deferring the Kuirau Park Skate Park Capital Project and continuing improvements to several sportsfields and Whakarewarewa forest, including mountain bike trails.

- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air .