Have your say on plan for district
Council’s ‘#Future Horowhenua’ on table for discussion
Horowhenua District Council is urging the public to have a say on major issues affecting the district. Topping the list is the future of the Levin landfill, Three Waters infrastructure funding, and the fairest method to calculate rates.
A comprehensive consultation document called #Future Horowhenua got the official sign-off this week and will be floated out for feedback.
Mayor of Horowhenua Bernie Wanden urged the public to read the consultation document and make submissions.
“I see this Long Term Plan Amendment consultation document adoption as a curtainraiser to what will be an intense few months of community engagement,” he said.
HDC was planning an overall rates increase of
7.8 per cent this year, and was considering a more equitable rating system as some ratepayers could face a greater annual increase than others.
HDC was paying close attention to rates affordability. Rates were forecast to have a cumulative percentage increase of almost 50 per cent between now and 2028.
Mayor Wanden said it was important that any rating system was fair and equitable across all sectors of the community.
“We know there are significant cost of living pressures for many residents, which sees some households spending 8-9 per cent of their income on rates while some pay just 1-2 per cent,” he said. “There are differing reasons for this and it is important we understand the community’s views on whether they think the capital value or land value
rating system is best for our district.”
Residential property values had increased substantially throughout the district and those increases had a bearing on rates calculations. Commercial and rural property had also risen in value, but not to the same extent.
A report commissioned in 2007 recommended rates shouldn’t be more than 5 per cent of a household’s income. According to the 2018 census, the average income in Horowhenua is 35 per cent lower than the national average, while the average mortgage repayment was 43.9 per cent of annual average income.
HDC also had to make a decision
this year on the future of the Levin landfill on Hokio Beach Rd, with options to close the site completely, keep it open until resource consent expires in 2037, or close the site and explore its potential for alternative use.
The latter was the preferred option, with potential as a processing facility for organic material only, resulting in eventual savings to ratepayers through waste minimisation and resource recovery.
Uncertainty around future government direction of Three Waters assets meant HDC included funding of future planned projects and upgrades to drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems in its long-term budget.
Significant upgrades to those networks were needed to keep up with population growth. Last year HDC agreed to invest $121 million on drinking water, $171 million on wastewater and $29 million in stormwater in the next 20 years, and already increasing costs had already forced a reshuffle of infrastructure projects.
Key projects identified included a raw water reservoir increase storage capacity, improving capacity to filter water at treatment plants, upgrades to wastewater treatment plants, and district-wide stormwater improvements.
HDC had increased its annual debt limit from 225 to 250 per cent of its annual revenue to ensure funding of key infrastructure upgrades. Should water assets be transferred to a new entity under any proposed new restructure of Three Waters by government, that limit would reduce back to 225 per cent.
HDC had a busy week getting the consultation document signed off amid concerns from Audit New Zealand that planned funding of Three Waters infrastructure made its Long Term Plan “unlawful”.
HDC paused signing off the consultation document for a week, allowing for an amendment to legislation passed under urgency in Parliament that meant it could now include funding forecasts as planned.
The inclusion of Three Waters assets beyond 2024 was then met with an adverse, but not unlawful, opinion from Audit New Zealand.
The date for submissions closes on May 1, followed by hearings on May 10 and 11. HDC is required to have its Annual and Long Term Plans completed by June 28.