Setting the scene | te horopaki

Message from the Mayor

Kia ora and welcome to our 9 year plan 2025-34.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to have their say during the development of this plan. The quality and quantity of feedback received was greatly appreciated.

This plan outlines what we will do for our city over the next 9 years. The focus is firmly on core infrastructure and looking after what we’ve got – that includes our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater pipes, as well as roads, footpaths, waste and other core infrastructure that is at the heart of local government.

To deliver on this promise, the plan includes ambitious capital expenditure worth $2 billion over the next nine years. That is spending on essentials we need, and significantly the plan also delivers a balanced operating budget for the first time in years.

Our plan also reflects Council’s decision to deliver water services in-house, rather than through a Council-Controlled Organisation thus retaining direct control and restricting debt.

We also need to plan for and invest in new infrastructure to cater for growth, and improve the city’s accessibility, liveability and vibrancy. That’s why we’ll be investing in the completion of the Te

Awa Ōtākou Peninsula Connection, which will improve the safety, useability, and resilience of this key route. That is also why we are upgrading stormwater pipes in South Dunedin to better handle large downpours, and we are diverting water away from the Caversham tunnel as first groundwork steps in the South Dunedin Future programme.

We’ve also included funding to build the new Smooth Hill landfill which, once finished, will be a key facility for our city’s growth and resilience.

Council has carefully considered every one of the 801 submissions received and listened closely to those who chose to speak at the 9 year plan hearings. As a result, we are funding a range of projects and improvements while juggling competing needs across the community.

These initiatives include investing in transport projects that will help emissions reduction, retaining the Taieri Gorge Railway, supporting performing arts by funding the Playhouse Theatre, the Athenaeum, and a new performing arts venue; and replacing the Edgar Centre roof, to name the larger ones. Not all projects received a unanimous vote around the council table, but everything funded received a majority.

All of this comes at a cost, which is why we have a rates rise of 10.7% for 2025/26 to achieve a balanced budget, along with an increase in our borrowings over the 9 years of the plan.

We know times are tough for many people, as they are for many councils, but we also know that we can’t get behind in looking after what we have – it will only cost us more in the long run. We need to strike the difficult balance between continuing to invest in our city and striving to ensure Ōtepoti Dunedin remains the wonderful, vibrant, favourite place for us all.

We are ambitious for our city and we know you are too. Thank you, once again, for playing your part in making us one of the world’s great small cities.

Jules Radich | Mayor of Dunedin
Te Koromatua o Ōtepoti

he karere nā te Koromatua

Kia ora, ko tēnei tā tātau mahere iwa tau 2025-34.

Tēnei te mihi atu ki te katoa i whai wāhi ki tuku kōrero mai i te whakawhanake o tēnei mahere. He mihi
mānawanui ki te kōuka me te nui o te kōrero ko riro i a mātau.

Ko whakamāramahia te mahere nei i kā mahi kai te aroaro i kā tau e iwa e heke mai nei. Ka aro mārire ki te tūāhaka pū , ā, ki te mau tou ki aua mea kai a tātau kē – tae noa atu ki te wai inu, te waipara me kā paipa wai ua, ko kā rori, kā ara hīkoi, te para me ara atu tūāhaka matua kai te pokapū o te kaunihera nei.

Kia ea ai tēnei kī tauraki, ka uru hoki tētahi whāika utu pūrawa haonui e rahi ake i te rua piriona i ēnei tau e iwa e heke mai nei. Ko te hoko i kā mea matua e hiahia nui ai tētahi kaupapa nui, ā, mātua nei ka whakaea te mahere nei i tētahi tahua whakahaere e taurite ana i te wā tuatahi i kā tau e hia kē nei.

Ka whakaatu hoki te mahere nei i te whakatau o te Kaunihera mā mātau kē kā whakaratoka wai e whakarato, ehara i tētahi pakihi whakarato rerekē, mā konei e mau tou ana te Kaunihera ki te mana whakahaere, ā, ka whakatepea te moni tārewa.

Me whai mahere, me whai haumi ki ētahi tūāhaka hou kia kapia te whakareaka, ā, kia whakapai ake te whai wāhitaka, te āhuru o te noho me te oraka whakaihiihi o te tāone.

Mā reira tātau e haumi ai ki te whakaotika o te Honoka Kūrae, mā konei e pai ake ai te haumaru, te whakamahika me te oraka mauroa o taua ara matua. Mā konei hoki mātau e whakahou i kā paipa wai ua ki Ōtepoti ki te Toka kia taea ai te uaua tātā, te marakai te autaki atu ki te anaroa ki Caversham hai mahi tuatahi ki te hōtaka Te Āpōpō o Ōtepoti ki te Toka.

Ko whakauru hoki he pūtea ki te waihaka i te ruapara ki Smooth Hill, hai tōhona otika, ka ka noho ko tētahi o kā rauhaka matua kia tipu ai, kia pakari ai.

Ko āta tirohia e te Kaunihera kā tāpaetaka 801 katoa i tae mai, i āta whakaroko ki te huka i whiria kia kōrerohia ō rātau take hoki ki kā nohoaka o te mahere iwa tau. Ko kā hua o taua tukaka, ka utua e mātau ētahi hinoka, ētahi whakapaitaka i ā mātau e kawe hoki ana i kā hiahia nui puta noa i te hapori.

Ko ēnei kaupapa, ko te haumi ki kā hinoka tūnuku ka heke i kā tukuwaro, ko te pupuri tou ki te Taieri Gorge Railway, ka taunaki i te mahi whakaaturaka mā te tuku pūtea ki te Whare Tapere Playhouse, te Athenaeum me tētahi whare tapere hou, ā, mā te whakahou i te tuanui o te Edgar Centre hoki, he tauira ēnei o kā hinoka nui e taunakitia ana e mātau. Ehara i te mea i whakaaetia
katoatia te katoa o kā hinoka ki te tēpu o te kaunihera, ekari ko kā mea i whai pūtea, i whai i te pūtea nui.

He nui te utu o ēnei take katoa, nā whai anō ka piki te utu rēti ki te 10.7 ōrau ki te tau tahua 2025/26, kia taurite ai te tahua, hei tāpirihaka ki te pikika o te moni taurewa i te roaka atu o kā tau e iwa o te mahere.

E mōhio ana mātau he uaua tēnei ki te tokomaha, pēnei hoki te uaua ki kā kaunihera, ekari kai te mōhio mātau e kore e taea te tiaki i aua mea kai ā tātau – ki te kore, ka nui kē ake te utu. Ahakoa he uaua, me whai tauritehaka i waeka i te haumi tonu ki kā hua o te tāone, ā, me te kana tou kia mīharo, kia kakahau, kia mariu a Ōtepoti ki a tātau katoa.

He tāone haonui tēnei tāone, kai te pēnā hoki ōhona kirirarau. Tēnā anō koutou i tā koutou mahi hāpai i tēnei tāone, hai tāone iti pai o te ao.

Jules Radich | Mayor of Dunedin
Koromatua o Ōtepoti

what is the 9 year plan? | he aha te mahere iwa tau?

Every three years, New Zealand councils are required under the Local Government Act 2002 to prepare a
Long Term Plan (LTP). This is usually a 10 year plan that outlines what the council aims to do, how it will do it,
and how it will pay for it.

However, in 2024, when we would normally prepare a 10 year plan, the DCC took a different approach due to a
number of legislative changes that affected council activities. A decision was made to delay the usual 10 year plan
and instead created a 9 year plan. Although it’s one year shorter, the 9 year plan serves the same purpose and follows
the same process as a 10 year plan.

The 9 year plan sets out the services and activities the Council plans to deliver, what it hopes to achieve, and the level
of service the community can expect. It also explains how much these services and projects are expected to cost,
how they will be funded, and what the impact will be on rates and debt. This plan is an important tool for keeping the
Council accountable to the community, as it forms part of a regular cycle of planning, reporting, and review.

In the years between long-term plans, the Council produces Annual Plans. These are shorter documents that update
the community on any changes or new developments. At the end of each financial year, the Council also publishes an
Annual Report, which shows how well it has delivered on the goals and promises set out in the plan.

Because the Council has chosen to create a 9 year plan in 2024, there will only be one Annual Plan before the next full
10 year plan is developed.

Mayor and Councillors | ko tō koromatua me kā kaikaunihera

(at the time of adoption )

Jules Radich (Mayor)

Cr Kevin Gilbert

Cr Jim O'Malley

Cr Sophie Barker

Cr Carmen Houlahan

Cr Lee Vandervis

Cr Bill Acklin

Cr Marie Laufiso

Cr Steve Walker

Cr David Benson Pope

Cr Cherry Lucas (Deputy Mayor)

Cr Brent Weatherall

Cr Christine Garey

Cr Mandy Mayhem

Cr Andrew Whiley

Community boards | kā poari hapori

(at the time of adoption)

Council committee structure | te aka o te kōmiti kaunihera

(at the time of adoption)