Plans for Mayor Wayne Brown's "fairer" rating system in the Far North have drawn well over 1000 submissions, with a majority backing the changes in principle.
However, the Far North District Council's proposals to charge different sectors and areas for the services they use is also strongly opposed in some quarters.
The "user-pays" system would see residential rates drop in places such as Kaikohe, which has an old and simple sewerage system, but rise sharply in places such as Hihi, where the cost of a new system is spread over a small number of residents.
It is also opposed by foresters and dairy farmers, who held a public meeting in Okaihau this week to decide how to fight the changes. Their rates would soar due to new charges designed to recoup the cost of repairing roads damaged by milk tankers and logging trucks.
Council spokesman Richard Edmondson said rating issues dominated submissions to the draft Long-Term Plan 2012-22, with a total of 1118 submitters raising 3200 separate issues.