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Last chance to have your say on law to protect New Plymouth District’s multimillion dollar perpetual fund for future generations

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PUBLISHED: 14 JUN 2022
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Last chance to have your say on law to protect New Plymouth District’s multimillion dollar perpetual fund for future generations

We’ve got $349 million in our independently managed Perpetual Investment Fund (PIF) that offsets rates and is working for our kids’ future, but how do we keep it safe for them?

A proposed Parliamentary Bill that would protect the NPDC’s Perpetual Investment Fund (PIF) could be the answer, but we need to know what our residents think.

The PIF helps us invest for tomorrow and it has offset rates by $236 million since it was set up in 2004.

NPDC has drafted legislation that proposed to ring-fence benefits of the PIF for people living within the current district boundary. The proposed law would also require Councillors to consider the long-term nature of the PIF when they make decisions and would stand alongside the existing protections to ensure it keeps paying out for residents.

“The PIF helps us invest in a Sustainable Lifestyle Capital for our kids and grandkids and it offsets rates, shaving more than $9 million off the total rates bill in the year to the end of June 2021,” said NPDC Group Manager Corporate Services Joy Buckingham.

“It started with the sale of our Powerco shares in 2004 and it’s come to us from the hard graft and good management of previous generations, so it’s only right we should ask the public if we should further protect it,” said NPDC Group Manager Corporate Services Joy Buckingham.

The PIF has also helped NPDC keep its AA+ credit rating, the highest possible for local government in New Zealand from international ratings agency S&P Global, reflecting strong financial management and confidence in the future.

Have your say on our future of our perpetual fund here by Friday 17 June.

 

FAST FACTS

  • The PIF has paid NPDC about $236 million since 2004, including more than $9 million in the last financial year.
  • NPDC created the PIF in 2004 with about $260 million from the sale of its shareholding in Powerco.
  • The value of the PIF hit a record high of $368 million at the end of December 2021.
  • The New Plymouth PIF Guardians Limited was set up in 2017 and is a Council-Controlled Organisation.
  • Since 2017, the PIF has been managed at arm’s length by an independent investment firm Mercer.
  • Release payments from PIF are used to offset rates and keep rises down.
  • NPDC manages assets, including the PIF, worth $3.7 billion, runs 16 business activities and has an annual operating budget of about $194 million.

 

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Page last updated: 01:48pm Tue 14 June 2022

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