Rates rise set to hit Southlanders
March 26th, 2008, 9:47 pm Hobbies News
Councillors signalled in February they could go to stakeholders and ratepayers as part of the annual planning and budgetary process for the additional money needed to meet obligations arising from unprecedented growth in the region.
That money will go towards monitoring and managing natural resources, in response to community concern about water quality and allocation, the impacts of dairy expansion and the long-term implications of climate change.
At a council meeting yesterday, councillors discussed the draft version of its annual plan, which proposes a %26quot;significant increase in expenditure over that identified in the Long Term Council Community Plan%26quot; (LTCCP).
Corporate services director Graham Alsweiler said after the meeting that rates increases would vary depending on the valuation and location of the property and its capital value.
For example, the rates of a $3.75 million farm would increase by $177 a year, while the rates for an Invercargill house with a capital value of $233,000 would increase by $26.76. A house in Gore worth $225,000 would pay an additional $19.63 and a $275,000 house in Te Anau would pay $23.11 more than last year.
The uniform annual general charge, which is included in the ratepayers example bills, had increased for all ratepayers and each property would pay $12.90 more, taking that fee to $50.80. Overall, the regions rate bill would be 17.18 percent more than last year, with the total bill for Southland being $9.09 million.
The LTCCP had forecast a rates increase of 9.5 percent on last year.
The plan says there are three main reasons for the increase — first, that Southlands rural economy was being driven to intensify land use as commodity prices and land values rise strongly, which increased the councils workload in policy preparation and implementation.
The other drivers were an increased workload because of new central government policies on sustainable land use and climate change and a review of principal policy documents.
Among the key changes to costs outlined in the LTCCP were the discharge plan project, which had been allocated $55,000 in the LTCCP, but now had a proposed cost of $305,000 in the proposed plan for the 2008 to 2009 year.
The regional policy statement cost in the LTCCP was $83,000 and had increased to $263,000.
Councillors wanted the publics feedback on the issue, Cr Diane Wilson said at the meeting yesterday.
People had the opportunity to ask questions about the plan and to make submissions, she said.
%26quot;Its not a closed book.%26quot; Environment Southland chairman Stuart Collie said the council was being open about the proposed plan.
%26quot;Theres no hidden agenda here,%26quot; he said.
The draft annual plan will be available to the public from Monday.
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