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RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Hawke's Bay residents outraged over council's proposed water rate hike
The hike is due to a proposed regional water entity to replace the Three Waters Policy. Photo: RNZ/Alexa Cook A group of Central Hawke's Bay residents are accusing the council of causing 'geriatric poverty' because of a proposed water rates hike of $5000 dollars per household over the next decade. In the quiet township of Takapau, a group of angry residents have banded together to fight the council's proposed water rates increases. (Left to right) Takapau residents Carl Tippett, Owen Clough, Lincoln Taylor, Christine Ross, Carmel Thompson, Kim Mathewson and Diane Sweeney. Photo: RNZ/Alexa Cook Kim Mathewson told RNZ she's outraged about the entire council process, and fears the devastating impact it'll have on their community. "There will be geriatric poverty here. That's really sad when someone thinks 'can't turn on the heater because of the power bill, I can't buy food because I have to buy the rates'. What kind of country are we living in? "Does this council have any social conscience? Because the way it is right now it appears they don't," she said. Kim has crunched the numbers on her own rates bill and said if, or when, water rates reach the council's forecast of $7000 a household by 2035, it will simply be unaffordable because it takes the total annual rates bill to about $9,500. "That's $180 a week per household of rates alone, plus $100 insurance, plus your power bill... if you're on a pension you're pretty much going to be left with $50 a week if you're lucky. No one can afford that," she said. Lincon Taylor owns Takapau business Taylor Made Gates and said under the CHBDC proposal he's facing a water rates rise of more than $25,000 a year for his business and the four properties he rents to his workers. "It's a huge increase. I find it hard to understand how the figures add up, what the council is trying to achieve, and who is paying for it," Taylor said. He said the regional model was probably needed, as Hastings and Napier could help make it an economy of scale for borrowing money, but worried about smaller rural communities like his. "I hope it doesn't turn around and bite small communities too hard because they can't afford it. "I'm proud of the fact that Takapau township has become a retirement village effectively... but they are the ones who are going to be affected the most. To add $4000 to their rates is going to be horrendous," Taylor said. Under the CHBDC proposal, Taylor Made Gates owner Lincoln Taylor estimates his water rates bill will increase by about $25,000 a year for his business and the rental properties for his workers. Photo: RNZ/Alexa Cook Carmel Thompson manages the CHB budget service and helps over 300 families and pensioners with their spending. But with the inevitable water rates increase, she's concerned about how her clients - both homeowners and renters - will make ends meet. "We have a lot of elderly women on our books and those living off only the pension are already struggling with the rates so I hate to think what will happen if we end up with these huge water rates, I'm not sure how these people will manage. "The elderly on pensions are our new poor. Everyone in the community is suffering though, it's really really sad," Thompson said. Fellow Takapau resident, Carl Tippett agreed. He moved from a rural property into the village of Takapau, but was now looking at moving away. "This is the beginning of the death of small towns right throughout New Zealand. If this goes ahead then people like us, over 65's, will not be able to afford to live... I feel angry. "We're at the end of the rope not the beginning. Frankly it's too late... there should have been a much longer consultation," he said. Owen Clough felt the council and government had failed to properly consider the huge impact on its residents if water rates skyrocket over $7000 by 2035. "There's no social thought about what is going to happen. No one has sat down and said 'can they afford afford this, can the country afford this?', because the answer is no," he said. Takapau pensioner Diana Sweeney was frustrated by the same issues, and questioned whether CHBDC was doing enough to lobby the government for help. "The lack of responsibility to this community by previous councils, the buck has to stop somewhere. The council needs to be our voice, we are a small town and we count. They need to spend our money responsibly," she said. A feeling echoed by Christine Ross, she's also part of the group and is one of 208 people who made submissions on the 'Local Water Done Well' proposals. "I can't afford to pay an increased rate on a single pension, it'll be almost 50 percent of my pension each week being spend on rates and I don't have it. "I won't be able to afford to live here, or anywhere at this rate. I'm horrified, I don't understand why the council isn't working for us, to help us," she said. CHB Mayor Alex Walker told RNZ the 'Local Water Done Well' was government's policy and framework. "The costs outlined in the current model are confronting, however council is actively working on options to reduce this cost, as outlined in the report to Council on 5 June. "We take every person, in every community seriously. Takapau was the first community in the district to get major water treatment plant upgrades in 2019," she said. CHBDC Mayor Alex Walker. Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook CHBDC said it had the "perfect storm" of water problems in the region, with years of underinvestment, increasing regulations and an intimidating list of three waters infrastructure that needed upgrading or replacing. 85 percent of total council debt is related to the three waters programme with 25 percent of the drinking water piping network and 40 percent of the wastewater piping network at high risk of failure. Two water reservoirs are over 100 years old and need replacing, seven water treatment plants need $47 million of upgrades, and six wastewater treatment plants are not compliant and urgently need upgrading to the tune of $112 million. Central Hawke's Bay residents feel their council hasn't been transparent about the forecast future water rates hike. Photo: RNZ/Alexa Cook The Mayor said the council had consulted with the community for five weeks and had 10 meetings including two in Takapau. "Affordability. Affordability. Affordability. It is our key challenge and Local Water Done Well does not convincingly deliver that for us yet. Our community can see it and they are, quite rightly, not happy," Walker said. She said the council was continuously talking to government about the district's challenges and opportunities. "We have made multiple approaches to government, including seeking financial support and leading early work across the region on the Hawke's Bay Model in 2019. "Local Water Done Well is the government's approach to address the challenges districts, like ours, face which sets out that ratepayers not government pays for water assets like any other utility, such as electricity or gas," she said. Residents don't just have an issue with the cost, but also with what they said was a lack of consultation with residents over the massive water rates hike being proposed. Kim Mathewson told RNZ the council had known about the proposal since December, but only informed residents in May. "They're not being transparent right now and presenting all the figures. The information they gave us at the community meeting was like a power point presentation for a business, it didn't give you the facts. "It didn't highlight the $7000 increase and it was so small at the bottom of the page... to me that's not being transparent... it's being dishonest," she said. But mayor Alex Walker said the council had been transparent, and the financial rules presented in December have rapidly changed and are no longer correct. "That we were approaching consultation has been flagged in the media, and the regional work towards LWDW has been reported on repeatedly over the last few years. "We have had constructive conversations with people across the district. Most people are aware we are fighting for them, not with them, to make the district a better place and figure out an affordable solution," Walker said. However, residents want to see CHBDC lobby the government for more funding, to try and reduce the burden on ratepayers. "They have to fight the fight with the government. I've said to them: 'when you first saw this why did you not come to us, we are your biggest ally and you chose not to use us'. "We could have been fighting this fight two years ago. The consultation period has been too short, but I do know it's been the same for every community," Kim Mathewson said. Under the new 'Local Water Done Well' scheme, the Central Hawke's Bay District Council consulted with its community on three options: A regional controlled organisation (its preferred option), a stand-alone district council controlled organisation or an in-house delivery unit. However, under the scheme there are also two other options that weren't presented to CHB resident; a mixed council and consumer trust owned model, and a consumer trust owned organisation where assets are transferred from council to a trust. "They should have showed us all the options and presented them much better," Kim Mathewson said. However, CHBDC said it was only able to legislatively comply with three options, which was what it presented to the community in the Consultation Document, and this was explained on its website. Having now heard the public submissions on the proposed options for water services, the council will deliberate these at its meeting on July 3rd. All councils have to submit a 'water service delivery plan' to the government by September 3rd 2025. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
'This is another insult' : Water rates to triple in Central Hawke's Bay
Photo: 123rf Water rates in Central Hawke's Bay are set to triple over the next decade, and angry residents are wondering how they are going to pay. By 2035 Central Hawke's Bay residents connected to the council's water supply could see an increase per household from about $2500 a year to more than $7000. The hike is due to a proposed regional water entity under the replacement for the Three Waters Policy. The new 'Local Water Done Well' scheme sits alongside legislation mandating councils decide, along with their communities, how it meets the new standards government has set for water delivery and quality of infrastructure. Bob in Waipawa is shocked by the figures, he told RNZ that it is simply unaffordable for so many. "It's extreme - and it also means there must have been a significant failure. It's unheard of - and as if the cost of living isn't already through the roof. "We probably can weather it, we'll cut down on any extras.. but for people who can't weather it, it will really badly impact them - anyone on fixed income such as a disability or pension," he said. Fellow resident Debbie Stewart was also worried. "I think it's disgusting. We have very high rates here, the second highest in New Zealand and we get nothing for it - so this is another insult. "You'll notice a lot of houses for sale right now, people are moving because of rates being hiked up all the time. It used to be a cheap option to live here, but now we pay more rates than Hastings," she said. Debbie Stewart Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook Another resident, who did not want to be named, shared Bob and Debbie's fears. "I'm quite concerned about it, I think people are struggling already just paying their rates fees as they are.. and if they're projected to rise it's just going to take more money out of people's pockets," he said. Bob wanted to see the government offering incentives for tax and rate payers who take more responsibility - such as conserving water and reusing grey water. "If someone isn't doing anything, then their rates should be higher. There should be incentives to improve and reduce, and make the region better - rather than a blanket cost that negatively impacts everyone," said Bob. Central Hawke's Bay District Council (CHBDC) said the water rates were derived from modelling completed for business cases for each of the three options. It said costs were determined from what each council indicated it needed to do in their long-term plans. And while there were still a number of details to be worked out, it has been assumed each council would pay its own way for its water infrastructure. Mayor Alex Walker said this was the basis of the numbers presented to the community - so everyone can clearly see what costs and increases are looming over the next 10 years. "We're in a perfect storm in Central Hawke's Bay. We're having to invest in catch-up from past underinvestment, meet growing regulatory expectations and invest for the future all at the same time," said Walker She told RNZ a tripling of water rates by 2035 would be very tough for residents. "This is intimidating for a householder to think about what $7000 of just water would mean for their household," she said. He said it was also intimidating to deal with the huge list of problems that CHBDC had on its plate with its 'three waters' infrastructure, which is the combined services of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater management. "Twenty-five percent of our drinking water piping network is at high risk of failure, 40 percent of our wastewater pipe network is at high risk of failure. We have two water reservoirs that feed our main towns - both of which are over 100 years old and earthquake prone and need replacement. "We have six wastewater treatment plants - none are compliant and one is under an environment court order and all needed to be upgraded. And all of this is in the context of a growing community," said Walker. Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Alex Walker. Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook Under the new 'Local Water Done Well' scheme, the Central Hawke's Bay District Council has three options to choose from: A regional controlled organisation, a stand-alone district council controlled organisation, or an in-house delivery unit. The mayor said the council's preferred option was the regional model. "If we are going to make inroads into these huge numbers, then we need to be in a bigger entity, we need a team approach," she said. Walker also acknowledged that cost to councils and ratepayers would have been 'significantly less' under the previous government's Three Waters policy. But she said being part of a much larger water entity with about 22 councils, rather than four, would have been challenging, so this latest scheme was the best way forward. "It's very clear to the councillors and I that the model is not a silver bullet to our affordability issues, but in the current changing legislative and regulatory environment, we are stronger together as Hawke's Bay." Submissions on the new water infrastructure scheme are open until 12 June A spokesperson for the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) told RNZ that as Mayor Walker has pointed out, Central Hawkes Bay District Council, like many councils around the country, required major investment in water services infrastructure to address underinvestment. "The cost of the required investment will ultimately be met by households and businesses, whether that's directly via council rates or water charges from council owned water organisations," they said. Local Water Done Well is the coalition government's plan to address New Zealand's long-standing water infrastructure challenges, and the DIA said it recognised the importance of local decision making, and flexibility for communities and councils to determine how their water services will be delivered in the future. "It does this while ensuring a strong emphasis on meeting rules for water quality and investment in infrastructure." The DIA said the scheme included key features and significant differences from the previous government's policy, which were more supportive of affordability for households. Waipawa main street Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook "The previous government's policy imposed mandatory amalgamation of council water services and assets into a handful of large water services entities. It relied on significant efficiency gains and price harmonisation, with some communities within each entity's service delivery area subsidising costs for others to keep household costs low. "This is not a requirement under Local Water Done Well, instead it is up to individual councils and regions to determine what the best arrangements are for their communities." The DIA said an arrangement the coalition government secured last year with Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) supports affordability for households and other users. "It gives council water organisations under Local Water Done Well better access to financing. This allows them to spread the cost of required investment for long-term capital improvements over future users of the asset, rather than front loading the costs onto the current ratepayer base." Local Government Minister Simon Watts agreed that water rates rises for residents would not have been less under Three Waters, and he said councils are progressing well with their new plans. "They're putting those plans to me in September and when we receive those we will review them and make sure they are fit for purpose. "I don't believe they (residents) will be paying more under our scheme," said Watts. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
