A wide-ranging rating review will see a number of changes proposed through the Whakatāne District Council’s forthcoming 2018-28 Long Term Plan (LTP) process.

At its meeting last week, the Council’s Policy Committee adopted recommendations relating to rates funding policies, which the community will be asked to provide feedback on via the formal LTP consultation process early next year.

Amongst the key changes proposed was the ‘equalisation’ of Murupara’s water supply and wastewater schemes. This would mean the schemes would be amalgamated with those of other District communities for funding purposes, with all connected properties – and unconnected properties where the service is available – paying the same charges, regardless of the actual costs relating to each individual scheme.

Equalising Murupara’s water and wastewater schemes would have a short-term impact on the targeted rates for those services. However, in the longer-term, Murupara residents will benefit, because the significant costs which will be needed to upgrade wastewater treatment technology (in line with future resource consent requirements) and improve water reticulation will be carried across the District, rather than by Murupara property owners alone.

Based on 2017/18 equalised costs, bringing the supply charge for unmetered Murupara water connections into line with other water schemes in the District would result in the connection cost increasing from $224 to $441 per year, with the supply charge for metered connections increasing from $91 to $162 a year, and the charge per cubic metre of water used increasing from $0.60 to $1.27. The cost for properties where water connections are available, but not used, would increase from $91 to $165 a year.

Meanwhile, again based on 2017/18 charges, the cost of an equalised wastewater connection for Murupara properties would increase from $212 to $277; and for properties where connections are available, but not used, the cost would increase from $106 to $139 a year.

Note that the actual costs which would apply for water and wastewater connections across the District in 2018/19 cannot be calculated until the budgets for the year are finalised.

Policy Committee Chairperson, Deputy Mayor Judy Turner, says the Council plans to discuss the proposal to bring Murupara water and wastewater charges into line with all schemes across the District with the Murupara Community Board and iwi stakeholders, before settling on the approach to be taken to the formal community consultation phase.

“We’re very much aware that rates costs are already a significant factor for many people to accommodate in their household budgets and don’t want to heighten affordability issues for the community,” she says. “It’s possible that there could be a staged transition to equalisation, which would help to spread the cost increase over a number of years and make the change more manageable. But we also have to ensure that the community is not exposed to huge cost increases in the future when infrastructure has to be upgraded to comply with new resource consent conditions.”

Committee members also asked Council staff to:

• Continue investigating stepped charges for water, based on the volume used, for possible implementation at a later date
• Consult with the Eastern Bay Chamber of Commerce about the possible introduction of a targeted rate for bed-and-breakfast and non-commercial accommodation providers; and funding additional marketing and promotion costs of $100,000 through the targeted rate on businesses in the Whakatāne CBD (with a further $50,000 to be funded from the Harbour Fund).