Otago regional councillors have told staff they want a vote on a "rates freeze" for targeted rates for drainage and flood protection in the Taieri at a council meeting later this month.
Freezing the flood and drainage rates at this year’s levels would come ahead of a comprehensive rating review proposed for the 2024-34 long-term plan.
This week, Taieri farmers Colin Scurr and Simon Parks, representing 17 farmers and landowners, used the public forum at the council’s safety and resilience committee, to inform councillors the group was paying almost half of the targeted rates.
Mr Parks said he expected the group represented much less than 1% of ratepayers who benefited.
"There’s all of Mosgiel," Mr Parks said. "It’s just unfair."
Mr Scurr, a regional councillor 18 years ago, said he had talked to the council about the rating situation for years.
At present, one member of the group paid about $75,000 a year in rates to the council.
That was projected to increase to $90,000 next year.
The general rate was not a significant part of the total — that was mainly targeted rates for drainage and flood protection, Mr Scurr said.
Without the potential rates increase freeze, on a property in East Taieri, he would pay about $21,000 to the regional council for his drainage rate alone next year, an increase from $16,800.
Cr Kate Wilson said, at an annual plan workshop, she had to question the fairness of the "gobsmackingly eye-watering" rates the farmers said they were paying.
"It’s pretty easy for people sitting up here who don’t necessarily understand the income streams of some businesses to say, ‘Just pay it’.
"It’s hardly actually listening to what the issues may be."
Cr Michael Laws said the council needed to define the "potential inequities" before the next council meeting, on May 24, that could lead to a decision on a rates freeze.
He was startled by the evidence presented to councillors.
"It seems that there was a suggestion that there are urban communities freeloading off rural ratepayers on this particular issue."
Cr Andrew Noone said he had a concern about fairness in rating differences for urban and rural areas considering the growth Mosgiel had recently experienced.
"If you look at Mosgiel since probably about 2015-16, there’s about 2000 more houses established between Alexandra Dr and Wingatui.
"Every time you get a development occurring in Mosgiel obviously that reduces the amount of rate they are paying to the overall scheme because there’s more houses to rate."
Council corporate services general manager Nick Donnelly said freezing the targeted rates at this year’s level would create an about $280,000 hole in the council’s budget.
In the annual plan the projected balances the council had forecast was a reserve of about $2 million for the Lower Taieri flood scheme, the West Taieri drainage reserve was $2.5 million in deficit and the East Taieri drainage scheme was also about $300,000 in deficit.
If the council went ahead with a rates freeze, those balances would be $100,000, $100,000 and $80,000 worse, respectively.
Further, he cautioned councillors against a rates freeze for one area.
Transferring the rates burden from one group to another would always raise issues of fairness.
"Rates is just an allocation method of a pie.
"If you move it from one person to another, the other person will say it’s unfair.
"You could do it, the only question I would have is of course if you talk about fairness — you freeze their rates — we’re proposing to look at all of our rates, what about everybody else?
"Will somebody in Lower Clutha see you freezing Taieri as fair? Probably not."
Communication general manager Richard Saunders, soon to be chief executive, confirmed there would be a rating review as part of the next long-term plan process.
Answering questions from Cr Lloyd McCall he said the Taieri ratepayers had not been "incorrectly" charged too much.
The ratepayers had been charged as per the council’s rates policy.
Additionally, he said money already collected from the area would be spent "within that rating area, so that even if the work had been deferred the money would only be applied to that area".
"It will be a council decision as to whether there will be a rates freeze — we’ve heard it is possible."
He stressed though the rates freeze would apply only to the targeted drainage and flood protection "and none of the other rates".
