Annual Plan 2026-27 Community Engagement

The Local Government Act 2002 requires each council to have a long-term plan that sets out the council’s intentions for a 10-year period. Each Long-Term Plan is reviewed every three years.

In years two and three of a Long-Term Plan, councils produce an Annual Plan. The purpose of the Annual Plan is to identify changes from what was indicated in the Long-Term Plan, review budgets, and set the rates requirement for that year.

The 2026/27 Annual Plan has been prepared in a challenging operating environment for councils across New Zealand, and Mackenzie is no exception.

The draft 2026/2027 Annual Plan reflects a clear and deliberate focus:

• maintaining essential services
• managing and renewing core infrastructure and making disciplined financial decisions while positioning the district for the changes ahead.

We have focused on the “have to haves”. We are looking at the necessaries not the desirables. Councillors and staff have applied that lens to every spending decision and worked through budget lines in detail.

Some budgets have been reduced and increases restricted. The proposed rates increase is yet to be confirmed however following the Annual Plan workshops to date the rates requirement is currently sitting at 8.6% but is subject to change following the Community Engagement process and the final Annual Plan decisions

In the budget review process, councillors identified some specific decisions they wished to explain to the community and receive feedback on. These include reductions in community development funding, community grants, and other community activities.

Please read the attached document and give us any feedback you have.