No More Free Dumping Whakatāne District

Thursday, 4 July 2024, 7:55 pm
Article: Diane McCarthy - Local Democracy Reporter

Murupara Refuse Transfer Station will start charging fees from January next year.

Introducing fees has been among the most discussed changes to Whakatāne District Council’s new Fees and Charges Schedule, which came into force this week.

It has been free to dump rubbish at the transfer station until now.

The cost to ratepayers for running the centre is about $400,000 a year.

It is unclear how long it has been free to dump rubbish in Murupara. The council’s solid waste manager, Nigel Clark, said council records did not show whether fees had been charged or not at the Murupara Transfer Station since 1989, when Murupara Borough Council amalgamated with Whakatāne District Council.

Although the new fees and charges officially applied from Monday, the council said it would take about six months for necessary infrastructural changes to take place before the transfer station could begin charging.

This has proved serendipitous as several councillors had called for a pause on the new charges until year two of the long-term plan to allow for conversations with the community around the change.

The proposal to introduce fees to the transfer station, aligned with those at Whakatāne Refuse Transfer Station, was put forward as part of the council’s Long-term Plan 2024-2034. Communications to the Murupara community said those using the dump would “pay their bit” – including businesses and people from outside the district.

Earlier attempts to introduce fees had raised fears that it would lead to an increase in fly tipping, but council staff said there was no difference in the amount of illegal dumping in the area compared to other parts of the district.

“It seems to be a behavioural problem rather than an ability to pay,” said strategy and performance manager Leny Woolsey.

There were 13 submissions to the plan on the new charges, including two from iwi groups Ngāti Whare and Ngāti Manawa. All were against the introduction of fees.

During deliberations, the cost to each rateable property across the district was given as about $25 a year. The new fees would cover only a portion of that cost. An option of applying a targeted rate to those served by the transfer station was disregarded as it would increase rates for the 1364 properties by around $293 a year.

Councillors discussed the impact on communities, not only in the Murupara area, but across the district.

Councillor Toni Boynton highlighted the fact that the Murupara area had the district’s highest levels of socio-economic deprivation and that Ngāti Manawa and Ngāti Whare had plans in place to address this, which had been expressed in their submissions.

She felt that the increase flew in the face of their plans.

Councillors Ngapera Rangiaho, Andrew Iles and Wilson James also expressed a wish to “push pause” on introducing the charges.

Mayor Victor Luca pointed out that Murupara was not the only low socio-economic area in the district.

“If we keep it free for one area, how do we justify not doing it for all the others?” he said.

Speaking to The Beacon/Local Democracy Reporting yesterday, Mr Iles said although councillors had given an indicative vote showing that most were for not introducing the charges until year two of the plan, it was later decided the cost to ratepayers would be prohibitive.

“[Pausing the introduction until year two] was our desire, but it was going to impact the rate rise even more. We agreed, reluctantly, to introduce them, but not until 2025, and we asked them to make sure there was good communications with the community.”

Fees will be in line with those at Whakatāne Refuse Transfer Station. These range from $5.50 for a 60 litre bag to $58 for a ute, van or trailer load.

Inflationary increases have been made to most other fees and charges, with the exception of hire fees for public halls and sports fields and facilities, as these have recently seen significant adjustments.

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