BRADEN FASTIER / STUFF
The council proposed putting rates up by 5.7 per cent, but on the first of a three-day meeting to deliberate on submissions councillors were told this left council over its debt cap by the end of the 10 years.
The Covid-19 nil rates rise has left Nelson council in a “hole”, and the only room to wriggle out of it is to potentially increase rates in the first year of its 10-year plan to 5.9 per cent.
The financial plan the Nelson City Council put out to the public for feedback in its Long Term Plan (LTP) consultation included increasing its debt to $291 million by the end of the 10-year plan in 2031, with every year bar the first having rates increases at the highest point possible.