Annual Plan and budget setting for 2020/21

Councillors met again this week to continue their discussions about how the Council will support Kāpiti Coast residents, local businesses and the district’s economy to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and how this will affect budgets and rates for the 2020/21 year.  

Mayor K Gurunathan says that in the midst of COVID-19 setting a budget for the financial year ahead is a complex process. 

“We’re dealing with a lot of uncertainty,” Mayor Gurunathan said. 

“In the space of four weeks our world has changed dramatically and we know our local people and businesses are hurting. 

“This situation is not going to go away quickly and we are working hard to balance the need to support our community and economy throughout this time and in the coming months and years, with the need to do our job and deliver essential services in a sustainable way.” 

In the week before Easter the Council announced a range of measures to support local people and businesses in response to COVID-19 and said it would continue to review plans and budgets to find further savings. 

“As a Council we are committed to doing everything we can to help get our community and economy back on its feet,” Mr Gurunathan said. 

“This isn’t a simple task and it will require us to make some tough calls. Some of our planned expenditure will need to slow down to make sure we have the resources we need to respond too and help mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.”   

The Mayor said the Council will be in a position to share more information about its budget for the financial year ahead late next week. 

Decisions about a revised draft Annual Plan will be made at the council meeting set down for 30th April.