Meetings to gauge opinion on district-wide rates

Town hall meetings will be one of the ways the Central Otago community can have its say on how rates are collected and spent.

At the Central Otago District Council’s meeting earlier this week, councillors agreed to consult on whether more services should be rated for across the whole district.

Meetings would be held in Ranfurly, Roxburgh, Alexandra and Cromwell as well as online.

At the moment, 82% of rates for water, roading and waste are collected at a district level, and 18% of rates for property, parks, cemeteries, pools and community grants, except museums, are collected at a ward level.

Teviot Valley Community Board chairman Norman Dalley, speaking in the public forum, said his board was concerned that as a "satellite ward" they would be struggling to keep up with the demands of ratepayer funding.

"We have no ability to influence or contribute to discussions as we are so small."

The Cromwell Community Board has spoken out against the idea and chairwoman Anna Harrison spoke again to the council yesterday saying the sale of endowment land had to be carefully managed to realise the maximum return.

Options presented to the council were to have all property, parks, cemeteries, pools and museums managed across the entire region, have an adjusted rating for Teviot Valley as that pool is locally owned, or make no changes.

As well as the meetings there will be information at public libraries and community centres across the district and on the council’s Let’s Talk website.