More parks, less resealing

The city council has met its targets in most areas of its services, except in the transport category, where it fell behind in road resurfacing, a summary report of 2006-07 shows.

However, divisional manager of infrastructure Fraser Galloway said the summary failed to take into account the large number of variables associated with recording the final result.

The summary is based on the residents' survey undertaken by the council every three years.

The council aimed to resurface 8km of roads each year, and install 2km of new kerb and channelling each year. Only 5.3km was resurfaced in 2006-07, but the kerbing target was achieved.

Mr Galloway said the target of 8km was set using criteria from a 2003 roading asset management plan, but it was a "silly measure" because roading projects were limited by the cost of the work.

"We have to work with the dollar value."

Mr Galloway said another reason the figures appeared to show the council had under-achieved was because it was resurfacing more roads in asphalt, which was more expensive than chipseal.

"It costs more, so we're doing less.

" The value of bitumen went up considerably last year, and we cut the programme to fit the budget."

The other area the council did not meet its target was in regulatory compliance processing times. A target of completing 90 percent of building consent applications within the timeframe set in the Building Act fell well short, with just 52 percent completed on time.

Where the council scored highly was in provision of parks and open spaces. A target of 4ha per thousand people was exceeded by an actual result of 18ha per 1000 people, the report summary shows.

A target of a nil increase in landfill material by 2009, and encouraging 80 percent of households to take up kerbside recycling, has achieved a good public response, with a 15 percent decrease in landfill material and 88 percent of Nelson residents recyling waste.

The council's cost breakdown of services shows that the total cost per resident for utilities such as water, sewerage, stormwater and transport is $829, while the net cost to each resident through rates is $542. The council explained that costs were offset by user charges, and other income or grants. For example, the council received a subsidy from Transit New Zealand for its roading work.

The total cost for each resident for environmental management and regulatory compliance was $139, and the net cost $82.

Parks, recreation and community facilities cost the council $431 per resident, with ratepayers contributing $305 to this amount.

The total cost and net cost for economic and tourism support was $14 per resident, and administration costs were $72 per resident.