The Government has proposed a new levy towards regional councils, aiming to recover costs from drinking water suppliers, and wastewater and stormwater network operators.
The Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai is New Zealand’s water services regulator and was introduced in response to the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak in 2016.
The authority now has to be paid for and central government has decided the bulk of its funding will come from councils.
The levy will start from July 1 next year and will be up to councils to determine how to recover and record costs.
The proposed cost for the Gore District will be $52,588 plus GST for the first three years.
In a council meeting on Tuesday, councillor Joe Stringer said Central Government was pushing the blame on to councils.
"Effectively councils have been made the whipping boy and the tax collector for central Government.
"They don’t want to look bad forcing this by their hand, so they’ll push it on to us," he said.
Cr Neville Phillips said central government was out of line.
"They ask for transparency. Where is their transparency?
"Central government continue to impose decisions on Local Government, hide behind us, blame us for rate rises and call us the bad boys.
"Well sometimes the bad boys have to fight back, and I say this time, enough. This is only the start. I believe we’re in for a big fight," he said
Gore Mayor Ben Bell said, in regards to this, it was a ridiculous assessment to think extra fees would help reduce cost.
"Now I don’t know what he thinks these levies are, but I would describe them as an extensive extra that burdens ratepayers.
"I don’t see how charging our ratepayers an extra $70,000 a year benefits them whatsoever," he said.
