The Council’s business year runs from the start of July to the end of June the following year.

The draft community plan now available for consultation sets out the Council’s spending plans for the coming year and indicates spending and other priorities for the years ahead. It is important to note, however, that spending plans in years beyond the coming year are estimates only and could well change.

Wide public input is being particularly encouraged this year because, along with the usual budget allocations, the community plan for the first time attempts to get agreement about our community’s broad goals. The draft contains a Christchurch Tomorrow section, in which a range of Community Outcomes are set out under nine broad headings.

Ian Hay, the Council’s General Manager Strategic Development, says people should consider these community outcomes as “a first cut, the start of a conversation about the kind of city and society we want to become.

“I don’t think anybody will be surprised by the outcomes we’ve come up with,” Mr Hay says. “Things like aiming to be ‘a safe city’ or `a city of active and healthy people’ have been basic aims of this Council for a long time. “What we need to do now is work with the public to refine them and the challenges and opportunities they throw up. By doing that, the Council and other agencies will have a clearer picture of what we should be working on and the public should be better able to judge how well our work is aligned with and contributing to achieving those goals over time.”

The draft plan, if confirmed as is, would result in a rate increase of 3.62 per cent.

The draft budget for 2004/05 includes total expenditure of $468 million, of which the Council would spend about $307m. Of that, $64m would come from Councilowned company dividends, $165m from rates and $93m from user charges.

Senior Councillor Alister James, chairman of the Annual Plan Subcommittee, says the draft plan maintains or improves all Council services and adds some important new programmes. “Christchurch City’s public accounts are in good shape,” Cr James says. “We are one of just three local authorities in the country with an AA+ credit rating and we remain well within all of the monetary measures we use to ensure the city’s funds are being well looked after. To have maintained this with a modest rate increase and a range of new projects and programmes as planned is, I believe, a good result.”