An overall 4.55% increase in rates is being proposed by the Waitaki District Council in its 2011-12 draft annual plan, but some individual ratepayers face rises of 20% or more.
Ratepayers whose water schemes are being upgraded next financial year to meet government drinking water standards face far larger increases than the overall draft increase.
They will be property owners on the Weston, Enfield, Otematata, Palmerston, Goodwood and Dunback schemes.
In a sample of rates provided to the council yesterday, the largest increase was 22% for one property on the Weston scheme.
Other Weston residential properties in the sample had rises of between 15% and 18%.
The examples provided for Palmerston had increases ranging from 16% to 19%, while those for Otematata were around the 7% mark.
That poses a problem for the council explaining to ratepayers in those areas who look at a proposed 4.55% overall increase but find their individual increases are far greater.
Strategy group manager Richard Mabon said the impact on individual ratepayers would depend on where they lived and to which water schemes they were connected.
Communicating with the community on the impact of rates increases would present "a major challenge".
This is compounded by the council not being able this year to send each ratepayer an itemised example of their rates, showing what they pay this financial year compared with what is proposed for next financial year, because it is switching to a new computer system.
In previous years, that enabled ratepayers to clearly see where what they paid was being spent. However, Mr Mabon said the council would look at other ways to get that information out.
Yesterday, councillors considered additional information they had requested about the draft plan, but heeded a plea from Mr Mabon not to make major changes at this stage.
If major changes were proposed, the timetable for approving the annual plan would "go out the window", Mr Mabon said.
The council made only minor modifications to the annual plan, which had already been scrutinised by its committee of the whole last month.
The biggest change was spending $1.4 million on developing the Oamaru harbour, mostly using loans and sources other than rates to finance it and not having a major effect on the draft rates rise.
The draft annual plan will now go out for public submissions before final decisions are made. Submissions open on March 23 and close on April 29.
The council will hear and consider the submissions on May 18 and 19, before making a final decision on June 21.
