[Editor: Here are the remarks Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst made preparatory to HDC’s official setting of its 2025/26 rates this week. Whatever one thinks of the rate increase, 15%, she reports succinctly on a commendable body of work HDC has accomplished over the past year, while explaining the funding strategy ahead.]

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst

Today we are here to finalise the Annual Plan for 2025/26. This plan is Year 2 of our 10-year Long Term Plan, and it reflects both the challenges we continue to face and the progress we have made since Cyclone Gabrielle.

The proposed rates increase for this year is 15 per cent. It is important to understand that 6 per cent of this increase is directly related to the cost of recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle. Without that, the increase would have been closer to 9 per cent.

Cyclone Gabrielle caused widespread damage across our district. Roads, bridges, culverts and water systems were badly affected. Families were displaced, farms flooded, and key parts of our local economy were hit hard. Of the total estimated cost of $1 billion, Council’s share is around $230 million, with the rest funded by central government.

This year’s rate increase reflects Council’s decision to rebuild our cyclone damaged infrastructure over seven to 10 years, and repay our costs for that over 16 years. 

That decision was made following extensive consultation with the community in 2024. Through that process, people told us they wanted the recovery to move ahead quickly. 

We did consider spreading the cost over a longer period — for example, 30 years — but that would have delayed critical rebuilds. Some communities would have remained cut off for much longer, and temporary bridges and damaged roads would have stayed at greater risk of failure in future storms. It also would have increased the total cost in the long run.

To date a huge amount of work has been completed.

• 10 temporary bridges were built within six months to reconnect isolated communities.
• The first permanent bridge rebuild was completed at Chrystal Twin Culvert in Tūtira in July last year, the Kererū Gorge Bridge rebuild was completed in April this year, and the Matapiro Bridge is completed, with the official community opening this Saturday 28 June.
• Underway is the Puketapu Bridge rebuild, due for completion in August.
• Other major rebuilds including Dartmoor and Rissington Bridge, which are scheduled to begin construction in the second half of this year. 
• Completed the Voluntary Buy-Out programme at a cost of $91m, that assisted Category 3 property owners to move on.

At the same time, we have essential infrastructure projects underway outside of the cyclone space including:

• Water infrastructure is being upgraded in Ōmāhu, Eastbourne Street, and Havelock North
• Housing developments across Hastings are progressing, enabled by Council’s infrastructure projects, including the building of 39 new Council-owned senior housing units, new affordable and social homes being built by Council’s housing partners, and private developments.

But there is still a significant amount of work to be done, particularly in the cyclone recovery space.

More permanent bridges are scheduled for construction, and repairs at major slip sites requiring engineering solutions continue across large parts of the roading network.

In our urban areas, essential work includes further upgrades to three waters infrastructure are needed to strengthen our systems for the future.  

This Annual Plan closely follows the financial strategy agreed with the community last year. It focuses on essential infrastructure, keeps services running, and continues recovery work while also delivering savings.

Council met its savings target of $2.7 million last year and is on track to do the same again. These savings have come from reduced staffing costs, better-value contracts, and reshaping parts of the capital programme. This helps reduce debt and keeps rates lower than they would otherwise be.

By sticking to this strategy, we protect Council’s credit rating. That keeps the cost of borrowing down, which is especially important as we continue to invest in both recovery and growth.

In the recovery space, we have been very successful at securing Government emergency funding assistance for the next four years. On top of that, two weeks ago Government announced another $219m of support for cyclone affected councils. It all reinforces the need to keep the foot on the pedal and get all the cyclone recovery in the next four years.

This plan is about staying the course. It supports the recovery our community needs, lays the groundwork for the future, and keeps Hastings moving forward.

The financial situation is difficult for everyone – residents and Council. We are grateful for the community’s support as we work to bring Council’s budget back to a more stable level as quickly and responsibly as possible.