South Wairarapa Adopts Plan, Confirms 14.7% Rates Rise

Wednesday, 26 June 2024, 8:13 pm
Article: Emily Ireland - Local Democracy Reporter

South Wairarapa District Council [SWDC] unanimously adopted its Enhanced Annual Plan on Wednesday morning, carrying over an estimated $6.79 million of unspent capital budget into the coming financial year.

Ratepayers can expect an average rates increase of 14.7 per cent.

But although there was consensus on the plan itself, and various rating policies, striking the rates was not unanimous, with councillor Aaron Woodcock voting against.

He said he was still seeing "a lot of wasted money in the three waters space" and was "not overly happy" with how rates would be applied to separately used or inhabitable part [SUIP] on properties.

SWDC moved to introduce a SUIP rating unit after its rating review last year, as did neighbouring Carterton District Council.

Applying the SUIP rate would result in thousands of dollars in rates increases to properties with multiple dwellings.

SWDC chief executive Janice Smith confirmed ratepayers impacted by the SUIP rate had been contacted.

Remissions criteria has been added to the council's rating policy to provide relief to ratepayers with more than one SUIP on a property under certain circumstances.

These include farming property where the residential buildings are uninhabitable, or empty, or occupied by workers essential to the operation of the pastoral/dairying business, and for retail buildings operated by, and residential buildings occupied by, the ratepayer.

Deputy Mayor Melissa Sadler-Futter said it was worth noting "the community may not see as much robust debate as they may expect" at the sign-off meeting because that debate had already unfolded at previous formal council meetings which had informed the final documents.

"I'd just like to acknowledge all the community members that helped us get to this point.

"While nobody likes to get a rates bill or a rates increase, I hope they can see that we've focused heavily on the things that we've heard are important."

Mayor Martin Connelly called the meeting "the main event of the year" and said although rates setting was a "zero sum game", he believed the rating system, which was reviewed last year, was "fairer" than it was previously.

Daphne Geisler and Jim Hedley presented in the public forum.

The big decisions

SWDC consulted on three items in its proposed Enhanced Annual Plan.

The first decision was to determine how much the council should spend on operating and maintaining water services.

At deliberations last month, councillors decided to "maintain current level of funding" with an increase for unavoidable extra costs. This option was supported by 54 percent of submitters.

The second decision was to determine the charging model for water use.

Councillors decided to reduce the allocated quota to 250m3 of water provided to all users [household or commercial] and increase the excess water charges to $2.50 per cubic metre for water used above this.

The third decision was to determine how the council should pay for the replacement of assets.

Councillors decided to manage debt through cashflow analysis and only borrow what is needed as it is needed.

SWDC would continue to fund an appropriate level of depreciation to fund future renewals.

Capital works carried forward

Of the $6.79m in capital works that have been carried forward from the current financial year to the 2024-25 year, the big ticket items include an "office refurb" [$248k], purchase of land for new open spaces [$1.53m], Greytown Wheels Park [$883k], Greytown Sports facility [$793k], and Greytown Water Treatment Plant Memorial Park Stage 3 [$2.14m].

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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