Separate water supply proposed
Submission to council suggests drilling bore so freezing works plant will not impact on town supply
Aseparate water supply and a separate-use rating system were among submissions made to Tararua District Council’s super consultation by Dannevirke’s ratepayers association.
The Dannevirke Ratepayers and Residents Association presented its submissions in hearings to the council last week.
Secretary Hamish MacIntyre, a local architect, spoke on the submission to drill a bore which would provide Alliance Group, Dannevirke’s freezing works plant, with its own water supply.
That would alleviate some of the pressure on the town’s water supply in times of water shortage, he said.
It was estimated the plant took about 20 per cent of the town’s water supply.
MacIntyre had done extensive research and talked with a drilling company that had supplied estimates of costs to drill three different depths.
He said while this would be at the cost of ratepayers, it worked out “pretty cheap”.
“When we are in times of shortage, when they’re taking 20 per cent of water which they need, then if they’ve got this sort of system right there, it takes the impact off all the other water supply to the town — we keep everyone pretty happy.”
Councillor Peter Johns said he understood the council was already looking into that option.
Group manager of infrastructure Chris Chapman said historically, various bores had been sunk around the district with varying levels of success.
He said the council had embarked on aquifer mapping investigation and fieldwork had been completed for that.
“It’s going to become more and more challenging to take from our river water sources, so we are doing this, we are awaiting reports and ideally bores will follow to try and find secure and reliable water quality.”
Association president Craig Ellmers spoke on the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC), saying it was felt the userpays approach was fine, but it needed to be both fair and equitable.
“We believe that not everyone’s paying their way and there’s a couple of gaps.”
Susan Lyford said the current council policy was for a fixed charge for the UAGC, but suggested a separately used inhabited part (SUIP) system of rating.
She said councils around the country had been adopting this policy, which would make it fairer.
She used an example of a property on which there were 10 units, but the owners were paying only one rating charge.
“Is it fair for me, a single-dwelling owner, to be paying the same amount?”
Ellmers said if the council adopted this policy it could potentially neutralise some of the rate rises.
Group manager corporate Raj Suppiah said it was a good idea, as the council did in the past apply SUIPs for water charges and had done that for services, but hadn’t treated flats as a rating unit.
“We can look at that, but what’s the unintended consequence of that? What’s the impact?”
Also in regard to rates, MacIntyre said when all the building inspectors resigned, it caused him great concern.
While he had met with Mayor Tracey Collis and chief executive Bryan Nicholson and raised that concern, he had since learned that it was to do with the pay rates of building inspectors.
The council was not getting enough money from building consents, he said.
Ratepayers also subsidised those consents by 20 per cent.
“I raised the point to [Mayor] Tracey and Bryan, user pays and that consent should require full payment.
No 20 per cent subsidy from the ratepayer.”
MacIntyre said if the person building the house could not afford the fee, they could not afford to build the house.
“In 10 years’ time, when that place comes up in value, we never get that 20 per cent subsidy back.”
He also suggested the development contribution fee should be capped at $10,000, which would help with new sewer lines, stormwater and footpaths.
“We have a lot of out-of-town developers coming in. They come in, they do their thing, they take their money, they leave nothing . . . so this in effect helps everyone, ratepayers, council, spread a bit of cost that we put back into our infrastructure, which is in need, seriously.”