Friday 10 June, 2011

Horizons to continue full Tb funding

Horizons Regional Council has decided to continue collecting a $750,000 levy for the Animal Health Board’s (AHB) Tb Vector Programme, after listening to the region’s support for it to do so.

Bovine Tb is an infectious disease and poses a serious risk to the health of dairy and beef cattle as well as deer herds.

After Horizons signalled in its draft annual plan that it would decrease the amount of money collected from communities on behalf of AHB for bovine TB control by $200,000, it received 678 submissions on the matter, 648 of which were against the funding proposal.

Horizons had also signalled it would provide a further $100,000 of funding from its 2010-11 AHB activity operating surplus, taking the total amount offered to AHB to $650,000.

Horizons chairman Bruce Gordon says as Horizons only collects the levy and does not carry out the Tb Vector control work itself, it was important people got the chance to have their say on what they pay for the programme before any commitments were made for the next year.

“The community’s response on this issue was clear and we will meet their needs by continuing to collect the full 750,000 for the 2011-12 year,” Mr Gordon says.

The $750,000 will come from a targeted rate on properties four hectares and above, which equates to 53 cents per hectare including GST.

The AHB control programme works to eliminate Tb and is dovetailed by Horizons’ own possum control programme which aims to improve biodiversity, protect property value and farm production.

“When AHB finishes work in an area, Horizons’ biosecurity programme moves in and takes over the possum control. We’re at the halfway mark of our 10 year possum control programme now in terms of time and area covered and it’s going really well,” Mr Gordon says.

The council is expected to adopt the 2011/2012 Annual Plan at its next meeting on 28 June 2011.

ENDS

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