It’s time to decide who pays to fix roads

One of the most significant decisions facing everyone in Marlborough right now is who pays what towards rebuilding the transport network in the Marlborough Sounds.

This is the key question in Council’s 10-year plan, known as the Long Term Plan 2024-34, which is open for public consultation.

The Sounds roading network suffered terrible damage from two major storms in 2021 and 2022.

After meetings and discussions with the community - and studies by engineering consultancy Stantec - we now have an agreed rebuild and recovery plan – called the “programme business case”.

The good news is the New Zealand Transport Agency is planning to contribute 71% of the cost of the repairs and 51% of the road improvements. But that still leaves Marlborough ratepayers needing to find $104 million – the “local share”.

Council has considered five ways this local share could be paid for, which is explained in the Council’s Consultation Document. They are:

Option 1 is do nothing, which means Marlborough would not receive any NZTA funding and the roads would stay very much as they are today and remain vulnerable to future weather events.

Option 2 (a) would split the cost across all of Marlborough ratepayers evenly.

Option 2 (b) takes the cost and allocates a higher share to a single Sounds Zone, with a lesser amount paid by the rest of Marlborough.

Option 2 (c) splits the total single Sounds Zone costs in Option 2 (b) into five sub-zones within the Sounds. The amount paid by the rest of Marlborough doesn’t change.

Option 2 (d) takes option 2 (c) and changes the rating for the rest of Marlborough properties from a land value rate to a uniform annual charge - a fixed charge which would be the same for properties in the rest of Marlborough.

Option 2 (d) is Council’s preferred option.

The Kenepuru Zone is the most expensive road network to fix at a cost of just over $125m, compared to the cheapest zone, which is Pelorus at just over $6m.

Under Option 2 (d), Kenepuru ratepayers would pay more each year compared to other Sounds zones and the rest of Marlborough, as the main users and beneficiaries of the Kenepuru Rd.

By comparison, Pelorus residents, who have the cheapest road to fix, would pay only slightly more than the rest of Marlborough’s ratepayers.

But overall, the rest of Marlborough would still contribute about 70% of the cost to fix the Sounds road network, and Sounds property owners would contribute about 30%.

We think the funding balance we are proposing in Option 2 (d) is reasonable … but we want to hear from you - we haven’t made up our minds yet.

We are holding public meetings next week in Blenheim, Picton, Seddon, Rai Valley, Waitaria Bay and Linkwater, and an online webinar.

Details are on our website, or call (03) 520 7400.

Let us know what you think. Go to marlborough.govt.nz and have your say.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

■ Monday: Blenheim’s Lansdowne Hub, 5.30pm-7.30pm

Tuesday: Rai Valley’s The Millers Rest, 2pm-4pm

Wednesday: Waitaria Bay Hall, 12.30pm-2.30pm. Kenepuru community members can book a free seat on a water taxi from Havelock via Portage and back; phone Rebecca Waldron, (03) 520 7400

Thursday: Online webinar, 5.30pm-7pm, via Zoom at us06web. zoom.us/j/88384985861

Friday: Seddon’s Awatere Memorial Hall, noon-2pm

Monday, April 22: Linkwater Settlers and Memorial Hall, 2pm-4pm

Tuesday, April 23: Picton’s Port Marlborough Pavilion, 5.30pm-7.30pm

STUFF Residents Ross and Sylvia Withell check out Kenepuru Rd near Te Mahia in October 2021, three months after it was damaged in a wild weather event.