South Waikato proposes mid-range rate increase
The South Waikato District Council is canvassing its ratepayers on an average proposed rate revenue increase of 7.7 per cent for the 2021-22 year.
The proposal is within the upper parameters of rate increases proposed by other nearby councils. By comparison, the Matamata-Piako District Council recently approved an 11.8 per cent rate increase as part of its Long Term Plan, and in other dis- tricts in the Waikato, Thames-Coromandel announced a 7.1 per cent rise, Hamilton City proposed an 8.9 per cent increase – on the back of a rate freeze last year, and the Waipa District faces a 4.1 per cent hike.
Waitomo is proposing a second year of a zero rate increase and Taupo¯ , which committed to a zero per cent rates increase last year as part of its covid recovery measures, now has a projected increase for 2021-22 of 6.5 per cent.
Mayor Jenny Shattock said the district’s growing population needed bigger facilities and more spaces to connect with whanau and friends, in a release accompanying the announcement that the council’s Long Term Plan was open for consultation from March 22–April 26.
Key challenges like changing legislation, growth, solid waste and the Covid-19 recovery were outlined in the document. As well as the perennially curly topic of how rates are spread across ratepayers, the council is consulting on a pensioner housing upgrade, the Putāruru skatepark, the future of the South Waikato Indoor Heated Pools and the Tokoroa Library.
In 2018 Tokoroa’s former Countdown building, on the corner of Logan and Mannering St, was donated to the council by Bonne Pellikan from her late husband’s estate for the purpose of a new library. The use of other funds donated by Pellikan has caused some tension at the council between councillor Marin Glucina and the mayor and in February Glucina, the lawyer who manages the estate, said Pellikan was disappointed the building had remained untouched.
The SWDC would be running about 10-12 public sessions, some more formal and some drop-in type meetings for people to make submissions.