Big leap in rates bills

Invercargill man Trevor Fogg says the increases on his Environment Southland rates this year is unacceptable.

A rates bill on one of his city properties has gone up by 26.8 per cent and another by 22.7 per cent. ‘‘It’s unacceptable.

‘‘I’ve spoken to quite a few people and they say they just get the bill and pay it. It might only be an extra $40 and it’s not much but it’s quite a substantial amount.’’

In his case the rates on one property had increased from $177.83 to $218.24 and at the other property the increase was from $151.95 to $192.69.

‘‘In dollar terms it’s not a huge amount but in percentage terms it’s massive.

‘‘I’m not expecting my rates to change but I want to highlight to people how much more they are paying.

In September, Environment Southland councillors passed an 8.3 per cent average rate increase for the 2018/19 rating year.

The overall rise included an increase in the annual uniform general charge from $78.70 to $94.80, largely to address the increased workload around fresh water.

Fogg said he was not sure that people were generally aware that the rates had increased by so much and said they should check their accounts.

He understood councils worked off the same property valuations, but his Invercargill City Council rates had only risen by 5.1 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively.

‘‘I’ve spoken to quite a few people and they say they just get the bill and pay it. It might only be an extra $40 and it’s not much but it’s quite a substantial amount.’’ Trevor Fogg

‘‘My feeling is that from what I can gather the rates went up for water quality but I wouldn’t be surprised if the people that use the most water are paying less of a rates increase.

‘‘If the average rates increase is 8.3 per cent, who are the people paying less than that?

Council director of corporate services Neil Selman said there were a number of factors that impact on the rates, but the two key ones that had contributed in this case were the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC) and the land and capital valuations.

The uniform annual general charge was a fixed charge that’s the same for every household in Southland, and included activities that benefited everyone regardless of property size or value, Selman said.

This year, that charge has increased by $16.

The land and capital valuations on these particular properties have increased up to 44.8 per cent, resulting in a larger charge than for those that didn’t increase by the same amount, he said.

‘‘The average rates increase of 8.3 per cent equates to $29.85 across all rate types over the whole region. Some ratepayers’ increase will be under the average while others will be above the average. There are too many contributing factors to provide meaningful generalisations.

‘‘Both I and [chief executive] Rob Phillips have spoken to Mr Fogg, and we are inviting him again to come in and go over any questions he has.’’