Mark Mitchell

And what people would expect me to do is to focus on how we can grow the economy, tackle the cost of living...

No, it's really basing it on figures is what we've started from.

Because what we've done with the 19, 27 and 45 is step the community through what the options actually are and the reason where the risks lie.

So the 45 is the full monty.

Basically, it's balancing our books.

So...

Essentially, last long-term plan, we did approve an operating deficit of $14 million, which in this environment is getting really hard to shoulder, and I think we're getting really close to our debt cap as well.

There's a lot at play here.

The $45 million would be, essentially, we also unfunded our entire water program, so the depreciation on it, sorry.

We're looking for feedback.

Essentially, obviously, unfunding our water depreciation is an option.

It does kick the can down the road.

It doesn't fix the problem.

Personally, where I'm sitting is in a 19% conversation.

What that's looking at is an increase in the 2% that we're seeing already through our budget, and it's also looking at revisiting the depreciation process

Sorry, the deficit from last year in the operating space so that we're not basically just borrowing money to cover the cost of our groceries, which is not a good place to be in.

We've got lots of conversations going on.

So, you know, Waitaki is already split across two different regions in Canterbury and Otago.

Yes.

Yeah, we've got a long, big land area, which that's where the water conversation has really hit us hard.