1. Catchment enhancement

The catchment enhancement fund has been reduced by $100,000

This fund supports initiatives that deliver the most appropriate and effective intervention on land and in waterways that improve the ecological health of waterbodies, their margins and the catchment.

Council catchment staff work in collaboration with other council functions, mana whenua, catchment groups and individual landowners to identify and deliver these projects. External funders and landowners all contribute to the projects to ensure best value for money. A reduced budget will result in fewer projects being delivered and less funding to improve water quality in accordance with the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.

2. Information technology

Budget reduction of $80,000

Staff laptops will be replaced less frequently, saving $80,000 per year.

3. Engagement and communication

Budget reductions of $109,000

The budget for the Councils employee engagement survey has been reduced by $30,000. This will result in a one-year break from this survey. The external publicity budget has been reduced by $79,000, which will limit our ability to undertake any unplanned publicity activities.

4. Community funding

Community grant budgets have decreased by $62,000

A decrease of $35,000 to the annual school pool subsidy, which aligns with a reduced level of uptake in recent years. This fund helps schools in the District to open their pools during the summer holiday for community use.

The community event grants budget will decrease by $27,000 which will remove funding for Motueka summer events, Children’s Day, Opera in the Park, spring outdoor movie night, Tasman Skatepark Tour, and cycling events.

5. Roading and public transport

Transportation budgets have a net decrease of $128,000. Some of the more substantial changes proposed are as follows:

Budget reductions of $177,000 for footpath and cycle path maintenance, pest control and our road safety programme, which reflect reductions in NZTA funding with no impact on rates.

Landscape maintenance expenditure reducing by $150,000. This means that outside of town centres, we will stop proactive maintenance of existing garden areas along 100 streets in our towns – reactive maintenance will only be carried out to keep roads and footpaths clear of obstructions. Planted street gardens within town centres will still be maintained as they are currently and the budget has been increased to enable this.

The introduction of reactive maintenance only of existing, maintained, shrubbed and grassed landscaped areas. This means within the draft budget, reactive maintenance only will be carried out to keep roads and footpaths clear of obstructions. This reactive maintenance will consist of either:

• Mowing using the Council’s roadside mower (which would leave detritus and possibly damage plants)

• Spraying (to kill off vegetation and prevent it from regrowing) where mowing is not feasible (for example, flax bushes or areas unreachable by the mower)

• Hand trimming if neither mowing nor spraying are feasible.

Changes to NZTA public transport funding for the eBus service will increase our costs by $80,000.

An LTP budget error in the costs of the Māpua Ferry has been corrected, resulting in a $103,000 budget increase.

The Council proposes to introduce paid parking to some existing all-day car parks in the Richmond CBD from 1 October 2025 for off-street, all-day car parks on weekdays (8.00 am to 5.00 pm). Get more information on the parking proposal here.

6. Urban stormwater networks

The stormwater budgets have a net decrease of$61,000. Some of the more substantial changes proposed are as follows:

The routine maintenance budget for vegetation control will decrease by $45,000 and the reactive maintenance budget will increase by $25,000 to closer reflect actual costs. These changes will enable us to maintain open channels without a notable change in service level.

A budget increase of $70,000 for catchment management plans to meet higher costs associated with expected environmental performance standards, requirements proposed for secondary flow path mapping under the Water Services Bill, increasing complexity of modelling when factoring in climate change, and higher levels of iwi engagement.

7. Waste management and minimisation

The waste management and minimisation budgets have a net decrease of $605,000. Some of the more substantial changes proposed are as follows:

Budget increases of $38,000 for litter reduction initiatives, CCTV surveillance and illegal dumping to better align with the actual costs of responding to increased incidents of illegal dumping throughout the District.

Resource Recovery Centre (RRC) operating budgets funded by general rates have increased by $300,000, as waste volumes are forecast to be lower than estimated and so recovery from fees and charges will also be lower.

Our kerbside recycling operating budget has reduced by $500,000 as a result of lower contract rates and direct income from processing recycling for new commercial customers and for Nelson City Council.

We will use the Government’s waste levy for transporting recyclable materials from RRCs for processing and export ($80,000), litter prevention activities that promote waste minimisation ($5,000), and upgrading the Richmond Materials Recovery Facility ($1.0m), where these have been previously funded by general and targeted rates.

8. Library services

The budgets for our libraries have decreased by $130,000

Reduced opening hours. The Richmond Library will close at 5.00 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Motueka Library will close at 5.00 pm on Friday.

Some regular pre-school and children’s programmes, school holiday and selected adult programmes, outreach and housebound services will be reduced.