I’ve been sitting on a tractor this week because it’s harvest time on the farm and it’s provided some time to think about what’s ahead for our district, our country and even the world.

Councillors have this week received their budget packs for the 2025-26 year and will be absorbing a vast amount of information ahead of the budget workshops next Wednesday and Thursday.

The workshops are being held in the Council Chamber, at Te Whare Whakatere, and will be open to members of the public who want to observe. If you’re thinking about standing in the Local Body Elections later this year, then these workshops are a great opportunity to see how Council ticks at budget time.

The Long Term Plan forecast a rate rise of 10.1 per cent and we’ll be doing everything in our power to keep at, or ideally under, that figure. Some things are out of our control, like the rising cost of insurance and that issue alone could spark a serious discussion about the assets that Council insures and how much risk we could take on in order to reduce costs.

We will go through the budgets prepared by Council staff and look at where there are differences between what was forecast for Year 2 of the Long Term Plan and work now being proposed. It is our job to ask why.

As has been the theme for several years now, we are intent on maintaining and improving core work and the Annual Plan will be another no-frills affair – a 10.1 per cent rise is still high, but we need to acknowledge what is driving the rising cost of simply doing business.

National’s reshuffle should be good for the country, especially the promotion of our Rangitata MP James Meager as Minister for the South Island. Mayors around the South Island have been concerned in recent times that we have lost representation in the Beehive and have less Government money spent in our districts.

I’ve congratulated James on his new and important position and look forward to continuing our good relationship. We also look forward to building on the friendships we have with the new Minister of Local Government Simon Watts and the new Transport Minister Chris Bishop.

A legacy of the former Transport Minister Simeon Brown is approval for a second Ashburton bridge and over the holiday break I’ve been contacted by people around the South Island happy to hear that the bridge is going ahead. Council has agreed to fund the cost of the roads connecting to the new bridge and we expect more detail later this year - that will be a conversation ahead of the Annual Plan 2026-27.

Driving up and down the paddocks, I’ve also been listening to the inauguration of Donald Trump as 47th president of the United States. He’s made his intentions very clear about how he plans to make America great again and we are all watching with great interest.