Ruapehu council in top 20 NZ local bodies

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 590, 13 June 1995, Page 5

Ruapehu council in top 20 NZ local bodies

Ruapehu District gets a score of 20.3 out of a possible 30 in a recent study of the country's local authorities (Management, April 1995), ahead of neighbours Waikato (17.5), Taupo (16.5), Rangitikei (18.5), and Wanganui (17.0). The report was presented to councillors at their special meeting last Wednesday, following a call by councillor Weston Kirton for more input into the management of the district by councillors. The report, prepared by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, "went a long way to provide a comparison with other authorities", said Cr Eddie Turley. The highest scoring authority was Tauranga with 27.0 points and the lowest was Invercargill City with 11.5 (apart from Chatham Islands County whose results were not available - scoring 4.5). At 20.3, Ruapehu

was placed 17th in the "qualitative total score". Ruapehu, with a population of 17,850 and a total direct expenditure of $729 per head of population was placed 28th in ranking in terms of expenditure per head out of 74 authorities. Listed were the various categories of expenditure expressed as percentages of total direct council expenditure. Ruapehu spent four per cent on democracy (governance); seven on regulatory activities, 19 per cent on utilities, 46 per cent on roads, and nine per cent on social/cultural/ recreational activities. The debt to income ratio was listed as 0.58which was much higher than some (South Waikato's was 0.1 1) but lower than some (Tauranga's was 1.60, Kapiti's was 1.13).

Ageing infrastructure Council chief executive Cliff Houston said this ratio was manageable and reflected the ageing infrastructure of services as well as development (eg Ohakune). Out of a total income of $ 1 3 , 1 02,000, 55 per cent comes from rates, 28 per cent comes from subsidies and grants (eg Transit New Zealand subsidies), 1 3 per cent from user charges and the rest from commercial operations, dividends and interest. The council's long term strategic plan scored 2.3, ahead of South Waikato but behind Rangitikei (3.5). Many other authorities did not have strategic plans available for assessment. The Ruapehu District Council annual plan scored 8.0, while others ranged from 4.5 to 10.00. Their annual report scored 10.0. Mr Houston said the result was pleasing especially considering Ruapehu' s uniqiie problems such as its large geographical area which led to having a lot of long and sparsely populated roads and a lot of small utilities.