South Wairarapa Locks In Key Decisions, 4.7% Rates Rise Likely
South Wairarapa District Council has locked in its Long-Term Plan options after deliberating on submissions, resulting in a preliminary total rates increase of 4.7% for the coming financial year.
The council would adopt the final Long-Term Plan and budget on June 25.
Deputy mayor Melissa Sadler-Futter said elected members and council staff had worked hard to limit the overall rates increase.
She thanked the community for their input into submissions and hearings.
During the council's Long-Term Plan consultation between March 7 and April 6, 218 full submissions and 600 signed letters with the same template were received, addressing six questions across three decision areas.
At a Strategy Working Committee meeting on Wednesday, councillors agreed to maintain the proportion of uniform charge rates at 21%, instead of increasing to 28% as proposed in the consultation.
Because the uniform charge is based on capital value, keeping it at 21% meant rates would be cheaper for a larger number of South Wairarapa properties but would continue to disproportionately affect properties with a higher capital value.
The community feedback on this decision was described by council staff as 'even' with 92 'full submissions' in favour of 21% and 92 in favour of 28%, however the 600 signed letters were in favour of 28% and suggested the council should lift it to 30%.
Councillors also agreed to maintain the current funding model for services and facilities based in the three main towns instead of introducing a district services rate as proposed in the consultation.
A new and improved definition of Separately Used or Inhabitable Parts (SUIP) was agreed upon, which made it clear which dwellings would be excluded from extra charges.
The refuse and recycling charge was also changed back to per rating unit instead of per SUIP.
The next big decision was locking in the council's water operations budget at $6.05 million for the 2025-26 year.
It was the cheapest option on the table and was supported by a majority of councillors.
However councillor Rebecca Gray said it was not a responsible position for the council to take and wished the council would set the budget at $6.55m budget.
Councillors Alistair Plimmer and Martin Bosley agreed with Gray.
Regarding roading investment, the council locked in funding for the full Low Cost Low Risk roading improvements programme with an increased capital budget.
Sadler-Futter said councillors had been 'very mindful of the impact of our decisions on ratepayers' pockets'.
'In the current economic climate, a rates increase of any size is something to carefully consider. We are all here for right reasons and our community is at the heart of those decisions we make.'
The council decided not to fund a number of Memorandum of Understandings that were requested during the consultation, with many around the table concerned about making longer term commitments ahead of a new triennium.
Instead, it was agreed to increase the annual community and youth grant budget from $120,000 to $200,000 for the 2025-26 year.
'We have a small amount of funding available to share across our district and in this environment, everyone should get a chance to apply for a contestable fund instead of committing to MOUs,' Sadler-Futter said.
'We are trying to balance keeping rate increases low and supporting the incredible work that our community delivers.'
Requests from each of the community boards were giventhe green light, including the Martinborough Community Board's request to fence the small children's area at the Waihinga playground with funding from the Waihinga Reserve up to the balance of the reserve.
This would not have an impact on rates.
The council had also agreed to the Featherston Community Board's request to include the Featherston greenspace in the budget, and the Greytown Community Board's request to extend the Arbor Reserve in Greytown and delegate beautification to the Greytown Community Board.
Councillor Aidan Ellims said these outcomes were a great example of community boards identifying projects that were meaningful to their communities that also had a low impact on the overall budget.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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