Councils
Southland District Council has prepared a draft Annual Plan for the coming financial year that continues the increased volume of infrastructure projects outlined in its Long Term Plan 2021- 2031.
Council will meet on Tuesday 29 March to consider a report on the Annual Plan for 2022/2023, which includes an average rates rise of 9.22%.
The Long Term Plan (LTP) forecast an average rates rise of 8.31% for year two of the 10-year planning period. The slight increase to 9.22% is largely due to a rise in interest rates on loans taken out to complete major capital projects, including water scheme upgrades and local community projects.
Southland District Mayor Gary Tong acknowledges that times are tough, and says Council was “between a rock and a hard place” when it committed to a 10-year programme of work to upgrade the district’s ageing infrastructure at a time when many were feeling the pinch because of Covid pandemic restrictions and rising prices.
“We’re conscious that price increases people are already facing does make a rate increase a tough proposition,” Mayor Tong says. “Those costs are increasing for Council as well.
“We need to keep in mind that our people let us know pretty clearly during our Long Term Plan process that they wanted us to do better with our services and roads, and we agreed with them.
“We couldn’t keep kicking the can down the road any longer, trying to keep rates low in the short term at the expense of infrastructure which was in need of replacement,” Mayor Tong says.
Because the forecast rate increase is not significantly or materially different from what was predicted in the LTP, Southland District Council is proposing not to consult with the public about this Annual Plan. However, it’s important to note that the figure of 9.22% is an average only. In real terms rates rises will vary across the district depending on a wide range of factors, including the services households receive and how their rating value has changed compared with other properties.
Ratepayers in townships which have services such as sewerage, water and rubbish will be paying on average around $8 more per week, largely because the cost of providing these services is increasing. These properties are also paying more for some rates because their rating values have increased more than the district average in the recent rating revaluation. Overall, on average lifestyle properties will be paying $5 more per week and industrial properties $8 per week. The average weekly increase for commercial properties will be slightly higher at $15.
Meanwhile, average increases for rural ratepayers will be lower, at around $4 per week, largely because they don’t pay for water, sewerage or rubbish and their rating value increases were lower than other sectors. The exception to this is forestry properties, which had value increases above the district average. Rates on these properties will increase by an average of $12 per week.
Ratepayers can see the rates specific to their property using the online rates calculator here: southlanddc.govt.nz/ratessearch2022
Southland District Council’s Annual Plan is due to be adopted by the end of June 2022.