Cr Jami-Lee Ross
Manukau City Councillor For Howick

Media Release
21 June 2007

Council to debate wastewater referendum

Manukau City Councillor Jami-Lee Ross is pushing for a referendum to be held on Manukau Water's contentious fixed wastewater charges.

Mr Ross has announced that he will be calling on councillors at a meeting on Thursday 28 June to support his notice of motion directing the Manukau City Electoral Officer to conduct the referendum.

"Wastewater charges in this city have generated a lot of interest with the public since Manukau City Council started charging a fixed $320 wastewater charge last year.

"At the time, several councillors and I advocated very strongly for a charge to these wastewater charges to they would be based predominantly on a persons water consumption. However this proposal was rejected by the Council and instead the charges were increase by a further 10 percent.

"Wastewater charges are a very important issue for the ratepayers of this city. I am proposing that a referendum be held so that ratepayers who feel strongly about this issue can have an opportunity to voice their preference on whether the charges should be an annual fixed charge, or based on water consumption."

Mr Ross has proposed that the referendum be held at the same time as October's local government elections. He says that is the best time to measure public opinion because public participation is at its highest.

"Traditional methods of public consultation usually result in a few hundred submitters. However holding a referendum on the issue gives all ratepayers a voice on the wastewater issue.
"Council has also indicated that it will be conducting a full review of wastewater charges early next year. This referendum would be a perfect method for guiding that review."

If Mr Ross' notice of motion is successful the Manukau City Electoral Officer will be responsible for the preparing the wording of the referendum question.

However the motion that the Council debates will also request the Electoral Officer to word the question so that asked electors can express a preference for either volumetric or fixed wastewater charges.

In May this year Mr Ross, along with councillors Dick Quax and Bob Wichman, attempted to have the wastewater charges changed to be based on water consumption. This method of charging is similar to wastewater charges in Auckland City and Papakura District.

Mr Ross says he believes some sort of volumetric system of charging is the fairest way to charge to wastewater charges and would more accurately reflect the services that ratepayers receive.

While wastewater charges are levied by Manukau Water Ltd, the wastewater tariff structure is set by Manukau City Council.

ENDS

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