At the beginning of the five-hour meeting by the Council to approve the draft annual plan, the chairman of the Strategy and Resources Committee chairman, Cr. David Close, said the overall rate increased faced by residents was 2.39 per cent.

At the end of the meeting that figure had dropped to 2.20 per cent.

Other changes (with Cr. Close’s earlier figures in parenthesis) are: The residential rate increase 2.27 per cent (2.56); median residential property ($142,000) 32 cents a week (37); a residential property upper end of the market ($400,000) 91c a week ($1.02); commercial-industrial rate increase 0.81 per cent (0.71); rural ratepayers rate increase of 11.14 per cent (11.7).

The primary cause of the alternations was a change in library capital expenditure.

Further information: Cr. David Close: 03 388 0151 or 03 9418563.