MANGAWEKA man Russell Hughes has decided something has to be done about the "enormous" rise in rural rates affecting hundreds of rural residents, from Bulls to Taihape.
He has dropped petition forms in every small Rangitikei town for ratepayers to show the Rangitikei District Council their disapproval of the rate hikes. "People can't afford to pay enormous rates hikes like this especially as we don't even get the services," he said.
It was a joke because rural people were supposedly paying for rubbish collection, sewerage, street lighting and water.
"Well, most of them don't have any of these, so how bad is that?"
Sharon and Darren Playford of Mangaweka have spoken out over a whopping 44 per cent hike in their rates which meant they owed the Rangitikei District Council more than $1300 this year.
The Playfords, who have six children (of which four still live with them), say it was miserable getting billed that amount, especially as they didn't get anything for it.
"We used to pay $700. Now we have to pay $600 more, but we still have no amenities. No sewerage, no rubbish collection, no street lighting, no footpath, and we don't use much water," they said.
The family are on the road for about eight months of the year with the Gypsy Fairs. They have a small one-room bach they use for storage and the family lives in a large house bus, alongside which are all their toilet facilities and their own sewerage system.
They have lived at and returned to Mangaweka for more than 17 years.
They said they had been "treated like morons" at the council offices in Marton and Taihape. "We weren't even given a chance to explain. We were looked at as though we had no right to complain."
Rangitikei District Council strategic finance manager Angela Hobden said several things had impacted on rates this year, such as the council moving towards a district-wide rating scheme.
"For small towns like Mangaweka to charge their residents for improvements to water services to comply with Government standards is unaffordable. The only way these charges can be met is to base them district-wide and spread the cost.
"As these are a uniform charge, every property pays the same amount. Previously, this charge had been based on capital value for ratepayers and council thought this was unfair. All these changes went out for public consultation before they happened so that ratepayers who were facing large increases could make submissions to council about this."