Rates quip is ‘out of touch’
A councillor who claimed to have the biggest rates bill of anyone on Stratford council, but who wasn’t fussed about a potential 1 per cent rate rise, has come under fire for being out of touch with his ratepayers.
Stratford District councillor Rick Coplestone made the comments during the debate around whether the rates rise in Stratford should be set at 3 per cent or 3.9 per cent for the next year, a difference of $105,000 overall.
‘‘I’d be probably the biggest rate payer in the room at the moment,’’ he told councillors.
‘‘And to be honest with you I couldn’t care less whether it was an extra 0.5 or something, it doesn’t matter.’’
‘‘It does to a significant number of people,’’ councillor Kelvin Squire and other councillors fired back.
Coplestone’s back and forth with other councillors came on Tuesday afternoon during the review of the Stratford District Council’s annual plan 2017/18.
The issue came about after council staff re-checked the accounts and found an error that had increased the budgeted rates income for 2017/2018 by $105,000.
After fixing the issue, corporate services director Mark Weidenbohm said the rates increase needed for the annual plan was 3 per cent instead of 3.95 per cent.
During the discussions about the submissions later that evening, first-term councillor Peter Dalziel suggested leaving the increase at 3.95 per cent.
‘‘Given that we are so tight, should we not consider keeping the 3.95 per cent, building that $110 grand in for potential projects?‘‘ he asked.
‘‘If we are that tight, should we keep that up our sleeve?’’
He was supported by councillors Grant Boyde and Coplestone, while Mayor Neil Volzke, Jono Erwood and Squire said rates needed to be kept as low as possible.
Boyde referred to the discussion earlier in the meeting when council chief executive Sven Hanne said the council was at capacity but managing, and also signalled that he would be looking at whether the council needed additional staff.
‘‘I feel exactly the same way as Peter does, that maybe this is an opportunity to get a bit better resourced in this council,’’ he said.
Squire replied that if such an opportunity did arise, it could be brought before council then.
Erwood added: ‘‘Quite a few of us, when we were elected on council, said we were going to keep rates to a minimum. It was one of our catch phrases and I’m for it. I don’t want to see it go up that 0.95 just for the sake of it.’’
‘‘We also said we wanted to see Stratford grow,’’ Boyde said.
‘‘If there is a need for it, I totally agree,’’ Erwood replied. ‘‘But there’s no need for it at the moment that I can see, there’s no targeted need for it.’’
Coplestone attempted to find a common ground and suggested leaving it at 3.5 per cent.
‘‘You’ve got a buffer then,’’ he said.
But Volzke said that assumed there wasn’t already a buffer worked into the budget.
‘‘I think most wise people would build in a little come-and-go if you need it,’’ he said.
‘‘The notion of raising money just because you might want it one day, and then asking the ratepayers to pay for that, I’m totally opposed to that.’’
Despite the discussion, none of the councillors moved to change the draft annual plan and it will now go to the full council for signoff with the 3 per cent increase.