Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ
Stunned Waitaki District ratepayers facing rates increases of up to 45 percent are calling for a government probe of council’s finances, with some worried people will lose their homes.
The council has been seeking feedback on three possible rates rises of 19 percent, 27 percent or 45 percent as it tries to plug a projected $14 million operating deficit for the next financial year.
Oamaru ratepayer Kurt Scriven said none of the three options felt feasible for residents, whose rates had already gone up about 30 percent over the past three years.
“People just can’t afford it, not with the situation we’re in with fuel costs, power costs,” he said.
“I think a lot of people, a lot of older people, retirees who have a fixed income who are probably stretched now are going to lose their houses. As a mayor I wouldn’t want that on my conscience.”
Scriven said he and others had emailed Local Government Minister Simon Watts.
“I basically just made him aware of what was happening and that perhaps he needed to put a Crown watchdog in to see what was happening at the council because this just couldn’t keep going on,” he said.
“People just can’t afford those increases. I think people are amazed. I mean, they’re just stunned.”
In April ,the council signalled it would only consult on a 19 percent increase, following a forecast rise of about 7 percent in 2025.
Mayor Mel Tavendale said the new options were an honest reflection of a stark financial reality, driven by years of operating deficits and rising costs, along with an expensive water services capital expenditure programme.
Mayor Mel Tavendale. Jackie Tav
She said the council knew that the proposed rises were unwelcome.
“This is coming at a time where life is really expensive, things are really tough, and the conversations and the numbers we’re talking about are not palatable,” she said.
“I also think we need to be being honest about the financial situation we’re in.”
The 19 percent option was a “baseline” that did not fund any future depreciation, she said.
“The 27 percent we’re talking about is recognising where the prices are at now but also looking forward knowing that we’re looking at about 30 percent price increase on everything across the board around all the services that we provide, with the increase in cost of fuel and everything we’re playing with.
“The 45 is if we decide to fully fund the depreciation from last year that we unfunded.”
At a council meeting on Tuesday, Waihemo Community Board deputy chair Kerry Stevens warned councillors all three options were untenable and that they were pushing people too far.
“If you ever reach the point where a large proportion of ratepayers cannot afford to pay the rates, you will not have money and you will not have sustainability,” he said.
Waitaki Ratepayers and Residents Association chair Ray Henderson told councillors the proposed increases were too far out of step with rising council costs.
He said an increase of 15 percent would be far more suitable.
“Nothing has increased by 27 percent, nothing has increased by 19 percent. They are unjustifiable as a straight rate increase,” he said.
More than 500 residents voice anger
The council held three public meetings to explain the options in early May.
Allan Dick was among more than 500 residents who turned up in Oamaru for what he described as “probably the largest turnout that Oamaru has seen over a public issue for probably 25 years, since the hospital was closed”.
“I think that that really took the councillors a bit by surprise, as did the level of anger. There was no great heckling and there was no police escorting people out but there definitely was a mood in the hall that you could almost cut with a knife that people were not happy with the situation,” he said.
There was a sense the council was not doing enough to reign in its spending, Dick said.
“I think that basically the council needs to come out and say, ‘these are projects that we had in for this coming year but given the state of affairs, we cannot’ and ‘we will impose not a salary cut, not a wage cut’, and ‘we will now impose a sinking lid policy in terms of staff numbers’”, he said.
Tavendale said the council was looking for savings wherever it could.
“We’re looking for where we can find savings across the board. It’s something we’re very much keeping an eye on when it comes to things like staffing,” she said.
“It’s at the stage where there’s not a lot more we can cut. We do keep looking for small savings but the general picture and where the water fits into the mix, you just cannot change the whole outlook. We don’t have any other levers to pull.”
Public feedback on the options was due to close on Wednesday.
RNZ has contacted Watts for comment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand