Source: Radio New Zealand
Bay View resident Robert Best says finding ways to cut back spending to pay for rates is hard on a fixed income. LINDA HALL / LDR
A Bay View lifestyle block owner says he feels as if he is being forced from his land by another proposal by Napier City Council to increase his rates.
Robert Best lives with his wife in their Onehunga Rd home, which was zoned as ‘rural residential’.
The road had a distinctive country character, with no footpaths, cycleways, or street lighting.
Power lines rise on the side of the road, and there’s a 70 kmph speed limit down the length of it.
But the council, as part of its annual plan, was proposing to change Best’s property – and 1582 other properties within the council’s boundaries – to ‘residential’.
If the proposal to remove the ‘rural residential’ rates category goes ahead, Best estimates they’ll be paying a 16 percent increase this year, instead of the forecast average 8.8 percent increase the council flagged earlier this year.
“That would bring my total rate hike for the past three years to 47 percent,” he said.
“It’s just like you are forced off the land, when you shouldn’t be forced off the land.”
A council spokesperson said its goal was to make its rates fairer.
In 2021, the council introduced ‘rural residential’ as a transitional ratepayer category in response to feedback from residents.
“At that time, it was agreed to consult in future on whether to use land value or capital value as a basis for rating properties, and that the ‘rural residential’ ratepayer category would also be considered then.”
They said elected members had assessed the benefits rural residential properties received, and believed the proposal was a “fairer” way to split the costs.
“Some ratepayers will pay more than the average increase of 8.8% and some less,” they said.
Best said his home didn’t get the “perks” of ratepayers inside Napier urban boundaries, such as streetlights and footpaths, so he shouldn’t have to pay to subsidise them.
A council spokesperson said streetlights, footpaths, cycleways, libraries and pools throughout the city were used by all Napier residents, whether they were rural or urban, and whether those things were outside their own properties or not.
The spokesperson said its total rates consisted of several separate charges.
Each charge was calculated differently, and differentials (weightings) were applied to each ratepayer category.
“For example, commercial ratepayers pay 2.6 times more than residential ratepayers.
“Targeted rates are applied to a property if it receives or benefits from a service.
“Rural residential ratepayers don’t pay the sewerage, rubbish, or recycling targeted rates if they don’t receive these services and this will not change with the removal of the rural residential differential.”
The council spokesperson said one of the biggest changes proposed this year was its transportation rate charges, which paid for roading, road safety interventions, footpaths, and cycleways.
“In the past, these have been included in the general rate and calculated by land value. The proposal is to split the transportation portion out from the general rate and change the way this is calculated to capital value.
“This means properties with higher capital value will see greater increases than properties with a lower capital value.”
Best, a retired business owner, says he’s on a fixed income, “and I know we won’t be the only ones, so where do we get the money from?”
He said he couldn’t borrow money at his age, so “we’ve just got to cut costs again”.
He said the council needed to cut its own costs.
“I’ve been in business all my life, and if I was the CEO of Napier City Council, I’d be calling every head of department into the office and saying, ‘right, you’ve got a month to come back and I want a 10 percent decrease in your spending. If you haven’t, we’ll find someone else that will do it’.
“That’s what they’ve got to do, but they won’t.”
Best has also questioned the council’s rating of his water use.
He was classed as an ‘extraordinary’ water user, along with commercial, industrial, construction and agricultural users.
“We are connected to town water and are grateful for that.
“But we pay a fixed rate and then if we use more than the allocated amount, we are billed for metered water.”
The council spokesperson said lifestyle properties were classified as “extraordinary users” under Napier City Council’s Water Supply Bylaw 2022 because they had the potential to use water beyond typical domestic needs.
“The bylaw does not quantify or require proof of higher usage. It is a risk-based classification to manage potential demand and protect the network.”
Best said when they first moved to Bay View nine years ago, rates were affordable but “man, it’s changed”.
He said he wants the council to leave them alone.
He has submitted to the Annual Plan and put his name down to speak at the council’s submissions hearing.
The council has received more than 300 submissions, which the spokesperson says will be considered before any final decision is made.
A spokesperson for Hastings District Council said there were no changes proposed to its rural-residential rating differentials this year.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand