FAQs

It means that services council provides are rated at the district rather than ward level, meaning that we all pay an equal share across our district.

• District-level funding represents an opportunity to plan, fund and deliver services with a district-wide perspective.
• The cost of activities would be charged at a similar rate across the district. This could help address the challenge for less populated wards to maintain services given the low number of ratepayers to share the costs  

Currently all services and activities, with the exception of community facilities, parks, pools and community and promotions grants are delivered using a district approach.   This conversation is about whether Council-owned property, parks, pools and museums should continue to be delivered using a ward rates or if those services and activities should be changed to a district-wide rate.      

The districtisation project is looking at how things are funded rather than the level of service provided, per se. This is because Council reviews Levels of Service across all activities every three years, as part of the Long-term Plan development process. Council will be having a discussion with the community early next year regarding what services we could do without or reduce during the development of the 2025-34 Long-term Plan, to ensure our services are both affordable and fit for the future. Any proposed changes will be separately consulted on at this time.

All wards have reserves accounts, some of these are in surplus and some have negative balances. Cromwell has overall a positive balance over $20 million, which will be largely expended in the next couple of years by funding the development of the new hall. This funding is already earmarked and will not be affected by a decision to further districtise activities. 

Once the money for Cromwell is spent, the wards will have relatively similar reserve levels and under the proposal to further districtise activities these could be amalgamated. Alternatively, Council could choose to retain some of these reserve accounts for targeted future use.

In the below modelling, parks, pools, community facilities and museum funding has been included. Community grants (bar museum and pool grants) and promotions grants have been excluded. Two options are modelled:

 Option 1: Every ward pays an equal share of Council-owned property, pools, parks, cemeteries and museum activities ($837 each). 

Drivers of the changes for each community board

Maniototo - has six community halls in need of significant earthquake strengthening work.  The cost of this (and all similar strengthening across the district) would be shared by the whole district. Whether all these buildings will remain on the schedule for earthquake strengthening is a future decision. 

Cromwell – development of the new Cromwell Memorial Hall will be paid for with land and assets from within the Cromwell ward. However, if districtisation does occur, future operating costs would be shared by the whole district.     

Vincent - increase is due to supporting the operating costs for the Cromwell Hall and the earthquake strengthening costs of the halls in the Maniototo ward.          

Teviot Valley - additional charge is primarily due to the Teviot Valley sharing the cost of running the Council-administered Maniototo, Alexandra and Cromwell pools if districtisation goes ahead. A question for future discussion may be whether district ratepayers could also share the cost of maintenance, operation, and depreciation of the Roxburgh community pool.  

Option 2: Every ward pays an equal share of Council-owned property, cemeteries, and museum activities and an adjustment is made for Teviot Valley ratepayers who do not have a council run pool (so the pool costs are still districtised across the other three wards but Teviot Valley receives a differential to account for this).

Under this option Cromwell and Maniototo ratepayers will have a net benefit, but this is reduced because Teviot ratepayers are not subsidising pool costs. The net result for Vincent is a slight increase from option 1 for the same reason, and for Teviot ratepayers there is still a slight increase from status quo, but it’s significantly reduced from Option 1.

Option 3: Status quo, no change. Property, parks, cemeteries, pools and museums continue to be funded by ward rates.

Please email districtisation@codc.govt.nz and you will receive a response.

There will not be significant ratepayer savings as a result of a shift to a district approach.   Some wards may experience a slight decrease in rates, while others may experience a slight increase in rates.  The main driver for rates increases is water, wastewater, stormwater and roading, which will not change.  

All land is currently held by Council as a whole, and under the Local Government Act 2002 community boards cannot hold land. Council has historically allowed land to be managed at the ward level, with proceeds from land sales often being allocated to activities within the particular ward. 

Endowment land is land that has been vested in Council, to be used for a specific purpose. Any proceeds from the sale of endowment land must also be used for the purpose of the endowment – for example, if the land was donated for the betterment of the local borough, the proceeds must be used in the area that was intended in the original endowment. This requirement will not change under districtisation. 

Any freehold land could be sold and used to fund any activity across the four wards, as is intended by the Local Government Act 2002. 

Council has a significant amount of reserve land which is subject to the provisions of the Reserves Act 1977 and any sale of this land follows the process under this Act.

Council-owned buildings occupied by community museums would be funded and managed at a district level under the One District: Central Otago proposal. In addition, grant funding allocated to regular museum recipients such as the Cromwell, Alexandra and Maniototo Early Settlers Museums would be allocated from a district rather than ward rate, and distributed by Council rather than respective community boards, as is the current practice.

Option 1: Full districtisation of property, parks, cemeteries, pools and museums. 

Option 2: Districtise property, parks, cemeteries, pools and museums, but include a rating adjustment for the Teviot Valley Ward to offset pool charges. 

Option 3: Status quo, no change. Property, parks, cemeteries, pools and museums continue to be funded by ward rates.  

The effective date would be 1 July 2025 and subject to successful adoption of the 2025-2034 Long-term Plan.