Kia Ora,

Over the past week, we’ve kicked off early engagement on our next Long Term Plan, and it’s been great to see responses already coming through from across the Tararua District. People are getting involved, sharing their views, and taking the time to think about the future of our district. That’s exactly what we were hoping for.

Before we started, we set ourselves a challenge. We asked our team to do things differently. We wanted new and creative ways to hear from our communities, and we wanted the process to be easier, clearer, and more engaging for people to take part in. Too often, these conversations can feel technical or hard to access. This time, we’ve made a real effort to change that, and I’m proud of what the team has delivered.

At the centre of this is the Tararua Budget Challenge. It’s a fun, interactive tool built in house by our talented staff. It puts you in the driver’s seat and asks you to make the same decisions we have to make around how council funding is allocated across key services.

What it quickly shows is how real those decisions are. It doesn’t take long to see that more of something often means less of something else. That’s the reality we’re working with as we look ahead. Take the budget challenge at: Budget Challenge | Tararua District Council

This Long Term Plan will be challenging. We are dealing with rising costs, ongoing reform, and increasing expectations on the services we provide. We won’t be able to do everything, so we need to be clear about what matters most and where we focus our efforts.

That’s why your input is so important.

We want to understand where our communities think the trade offs should sit. What should we prioritise? What should we keep doing, start doing, or stop doing altogether? These are not easy questions, but they are the right ones to be asking now.

If you’ve already taken part, thank you. Your feedback is valuable and is already helping to shape our thinking.

If you haven’t, there is still plenty of time. I encourage you to give it a go. You can take part online, pick up a printed version, or have a chat with our elected members.

This is about doing things differently and starting the conversation early, before anything is locked in. If we get this right, we will have a Long Term Plan that reflects our communities and sets the Tararua District up well for the future.

I’m looking forward to seeing more of your ideas come through.

Ngā mihi nui, many thanks,

Scott Gilmore – Mayor.