$1m shuffle smooths council rate hikes

The Southland District Council will take $1 million from a fund to help smooth expected rate hikes, but farmers appear to be the biggest losers in the deal.

For weeks Southland District ratepayers have been saying they cannot afford projected rises of as much as 16 per cent in Ohai and 19 per cent in Tuatapere.

At a full council meeting yesterday, councillors passed a motion they said would spread the rates load across the district and lower rates rises in Southland townships by about 25 per cent of the forecast increase.

The move will redistribute $1m of strategic asset reserve money from roading, and spend it on the council’s wastewater rate.

However, there were fears farmers could bear the brunt of this latest decision.

Councillors and farmers John Douglas and Margie Ruddenklau voted against the motion.

Eighteen Southland towns have sewerage schemes and the full sewerage charge would reduce by $115 per rating unit, but many farmers do not have sewerage connections.

In practical terms, a Tuatapere residential ratepayer with a capital value of $125,000 will pay $108 less than they would have.

That ratepayer’s hike will be four percentage points less than previously expected, from a 19 per cent to a 15 per cent rise.

The council is looking to increase its rate take to pay for an extensive bridge replacement programme and other ageing infrastructure.

Under the money redistribution move, a Te Anau residential ratepayer with a capital value of $510,000 would save $86 on what had previously been proposed, going from a 10 per cent to a 15 per cent rise.

Councillor Christine Menzies said the decision would show that the council had listened to community concerns.

After weeks of public meetings and two days of public submissions last week, a consistent theme was that people in small Southland townships could not afford rate increases.

Under the move, a non-dairy farm with a capital value of $5.36m would pay $7964, which was $306 higher than had been forecast, meaning a 13 per cent hike on the previous year.

Douglas said if the farming sector knew the ‘‘quantum’’ of the rates, the council might have got more comments.

Ruddenklau said: ‘‘It is a significant increase . . . A lot of farming communities have been hit by Covid as well.’’

The biggest losers would be a dairy ratepayer with a high capital value, and an industrial ratepayer with a capital value in the order of $400,000, council figures show.

However, councillor Rob Scott said it was a solution for commercial operators in Fiordland, which was particularly affected by Covid-related border closures.

At the meeting, councillors agreed to stick with their preferred option, indicated in the council’s Long-Term Plan, of increasing the overall rates take by 10.15 per cent.

Council staff will now prepare the final plan document, to be signed off in the coming months.

Councillor John Douglas said if the farming sector knew the ‘‘quantum’’ of the rates, the council might have got more comments.