New Kerbside Collection Service – about $5.80 a week
From 1 July 2024, we will introduce the new four bin kerbside rubbish service to residential properties. Food scraps and garden waste collections will now happen along with the red wheelie bin collection services for rubbish and the blue bin for glass. The red bin will replace the current DCC black plastic rubbish bags. The cost of this is $301.50 per household, or about a 4.4% rates increase. The cost is the same for every household who is in the service area. We call that a flat targeted rate. Council uses targeted rates to pay for its kerbside collection services as not all property types nor all areas of Dunedin receive this service. The cost is offset by not having to buy any more DCC black rubbish bags.
New Waste Collections
The biggest area of increase in operating budgets is in the Waste Management activity. We have increased the operating budget by $10.159 million due to new contracts for the kerbside rubbish and organics collection services and monitoring costs required in the consent for the new Smooth Hill Landfill.
We are progressing a new landfill at Smooth Hill after the Environment Court granted consent for the project on 9 May 2023. We do not have a set date for construction yet. There are a number of things to factor in. For instance, we are required to monitor the site’s air, water, soil and ecology for 36 months prior to any landfill construction. The monitoring began in late 2022 and will cost about $340,000. We also must implement the Southern Black Back Gull management plan as a requirement of the consent. There is $700,000 in the budget to do that.
The Smooth Hill Landfill will be an important piece of infrastructure for the people of Dunedin, enabling us to dispose of waste locally without being dependent on transportation to municipal waste facilities located outside of Dunedin.
The construction and operation of the landfill will generate an estimated $14.6m in net additional value add in the Dunedin economy over 35 years and over 813 full time job equivalents across that same time period.
Where we are heading
- The new landfill would be run with modern techniques that prevent scavenger activity by reducing organic material and covering rubbish immediately, so seagulls and other pests would have no opportunity or reason to become established at the site.
- Smooth Hill will be a modern landfill which is highly engineered, for less noise, smell or run off.
- Modern landfills are located, designed, operated, and monitored in accordance with the Waste Management Institute of New Zealand Technical Guidelines for Disposal to Land to ensure compliance with the conditions of Resource Consents granted under the Resource Management Act.
- Modern landfills are designed to protect the environment from contaminants.
- This will replace the Green Hill landfill which will shortly reach the end of its operational life.
- There will be road widening and upgrades. These works will also result in an improved road safety environment for the existing users of the roads.
The capital budget for our Waste Management activity is around $14 million higher than what we had provided for in year four of the 10 year plan. We had planned to have completed projects such as the construction of a Material Recovery Facility and Organics Facility at Green Island already, but these were delayed, and so now we have included them in this Annual Plan.
Zero Carbon 2030 – Changing the way we do business
We think the best way to make an impact as we head towards 2030 is to change the way we do our usual business. So, we have started working with our contractors, talking to them about what they can do differently to support our 2030 Zero Carbon Plan.
This means different things for different activities. It might mean moving to an eco-friendlier road sealing treatment, or it might mean changing the way we heat our buildings. We are investigating lots of different options to include carbon reduction aims into our day-to-day business.
We aim to integrate sustainable practices into all our work programs, from roading to waste management. Carbon emissions reduction is not seen as a standalone activity but rather as something that must be integrated into everything we do.
Tūhura Otago Museum Funding
The DCC supports the Otago Museum by contributing to the management and funding of the museum, along with three other Councils in Otago (Central Otago, Clutha and Waitaki). The amount that each council contributes varies. The DCC has budgeted to provide $4.965 million in 2024-25.
Tūhura Otago Museum have asked the DCC to increase the amount of funding we provide. Council staff are working with Otago Museum to understand their budget requirements and develop a long term forecast of operating revenue and expenditure. This information will support development of a sustainable funding mechanism to provide the necessary certainty around how the DCC will continue to support the Otago Museum.
Staff will report back to Councillors in time for Annual Plan deliberations in May 2024 and longer-term funding options will be considered as part of the DCC’s 9 Year Plan.
3 Waters – The Future
In December 2022 Councils were expecting to transfer 3 Waters services to new Water Services Entities (WSE) by 2026 and were instructed not to include 3 Waters in our 10 year plans beyond the first two years. That has now changed. In February 2024 the Government repealed the existing legislation. This means that there is a new direction for water services delivery that is yet to be established.
3 Waters – What are we doing?
- Caring for our infrastructure by renewing treatment plants and pipelines
- Managing increased regulatory demands by successfully completing our first Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules submissions under the new water regulatory system
- Planning for the future to accommodate growth
3 Waters – The Numbers
In the draft Annual Plan 2024/25 we are proposing to continue accelerating our 3 Waters capital spend by increasing it to $80.123 million, this is up $32.076 million on year 4 of the 10 year plan. This includes:
- $35.704 million for new capital items such as the design and construction of a water supply main to Port Chalmers, network upgrades to support compliance, Mosgiel stormwater pumpstations, as well as resilience work and system upgrades.
- Renewals worth $37.519 million focussed on projects that are required to maintain service levels or are significant risk areas, such as critical water pump assets, renewal of water treatment plants and improving Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant Resilience.
- $6.900 million for new works associated with growth across the stormwater, wastewater and water supply activities. Like new houses and industry.
Bath Street Works - $17 million over 18 months – April 2024 to July 2025
Whilst George Street is almost done, we are now moving onto Bath Street. Most of the work will be on Bath Street and within the intersection of Bath and Lower Stuart Streets. There will also be work in Moray Place, near the Great King Street intersection, and within the intersection of Bath and George Streets.
Work had been co-ordinated to reduce the disruption to businesses as much as possible, including starting the project at the end of the cruise ship season. Work near the intersection of Lower Stuart and Bath Streets will require us to close off most of the Lower Stuart Street block from the Octagon to vehicles for six months starting in May 2024. Pedestrian access to all businesses will be maintained.
Why are we doing this?
- The Bath Street pipes are old and badly deteriorated.
- Most date back to the 1800s.
- This work aims to future proof them for at least 100 years.
- If we didn’t do this work there is a very real risk of the watercourse pipe collapsing, a sinkhole being created, buildings being undermined and flooding.
- Right now, our ongoing maintenance costs are high given the pipes are so old.
Where to next?
Once the new pipes have been installed, we intend to spend $1.5 million to upgrade the surface of Bath Street, to make the street more attractive. This is included in the $17 million project budget.