Central Hawke’s Bay residents accuse the council of causing ‘geriatric poverty’ due to a proposed water rates hike. Photo / Alexa Cook via RNZ
By Alexa Cook of RNZ
A group of Central Hawke’s Bay residents are accusing the council of causing ‘geriatric poverty’ because of a proposed water rates hike of $5000 per household over the next decade.
By 2035 Central Hawke’s Bay residents connected to the council’s water supply could experience an increase per household from about $2500 a year to $7400 in the worst-case scenario.
The hike is because of a proposed regional water entity under the replacement for the Three Waters policy.
The new “Local Water Done Well” scheme sits alongside legislation mandating councils’ decision, along with their communities, how it meets the new standards Government has set for water delivery and quality of infrastructure.
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council’s (CHBDC) preferred option is to be part of a regionally controlled organisation with Napier City Council, Hastings District Council and Wairoa District Council.
CHB has some of the highest rates in the country because of three waters, roading and debt servicing.
In the quiet township of Takapau, a group of angry residents have banded together to fight the council’s proposed water rates increases.
Kim Mathewson told RNZ she’s outraged about the entire council process, and fears the devastating impact it’ll have on their community.
“There will be geriatric poverty here. That’s really sad when someone thinks ‘can’t turn on the heater because of the power bill, I can’t buy food because I have to buy the rates’. What kind of country are we living in?
“Does this council have any social conscience? Because the way it is right now it appears they don’t,” she said.
Mathewson has crunched the numbers on her own rates bill and said if, or when, water rates reach the council’s forecast of $7000 a household by 2035, it will simply be unaffordable because it takes the total annual rates bill to about $9500.
“That’s $180 a week per household of rates alone, plus $100 insurance, plus your power bill ... if you’re on a pension you’re pretty much going to be left with $50 a week if you’re lucky. No one can afford that,” she said.
Lincon Taylor owns Takapau business Taylor Made Gates and said under the CHBDC proposal he’s facing a water rates rise of more than $25,000 a year for his business and the four properties he rents to his workers.
“It’s a huge increase. I find it hard to understand how the figures add up, what the council is trying to achieve, and who is paying for it,” Taylor said.
He said the regional model was probably needed, as Hastings and Napier could help make it an economy of scale for borrowing money, but worried about smaller rural communities like his.
“I hope it doesn’t turn around and bite small communities too hard because they can’t afford it.
“I’m proud of the fact that Takapau township has become a retirement village effectively ... but they are the ones who are going to be affected the most. To add $4000 to their rates is going to be horrendous,” Taylor said.
Carmel Thompson manages the CHB budget service and helps over 300 families and pensioners with their spending.
But with the inevitable water rates increase, she’s concerned about how her clients – both homeowners and renters – will make ends meet.
“We have a lot of elderly women on our books and those living off only the pension are already struggling with the rates so I hate to think what will happen if we end up with these huge water rates, I’m not sure how these people will manage.
“The elderly on pensions are our new poor. Everyone in the community is suffering though, it’s really really sad,” Thompson said.
Fellow Takapau resident Carl Tippett agreed.
He moved from a rural property into the village of Takapau, but was now looking at moving away.
“This is the beginning of the death of small towns right throughout New Zealand. If this goes ahead then people like us, over-65s, will not be able to afford to live ... I feel angry.
“We’re at the end of the rope not the beginning. Frankly it’s too late ... there should have been a much longer consultation,” he said.
Owen Clough felt the council and Government had failed to properly consider the huge impact on its residents if water rates skyrocket over $7000 by 2035.
“There’s no social thought about what is going to happen. No one has sat down and said ‘can they afford afford this, can the country afford this?’, because the answer is no,” he said.
Takapau pensioner Diana Sweeney was frustrated by the same issues, and questioned whether CHBDC was doing enough to lobby the Government for help.
“The lack of responsibility to this community by previous councils, the buck has to stop somewhere. The council needs to be our voice, we are a small town and we count. They need to spend our money responsibly,” she said.
It’s a feeling echoed by Christine Ross, who is also part of the group and is one of 208 people who made submissions on the Local Water Done Well proposals.
“I can’t afford to pay an increased rate on a single pension, it’ll be almost 50% of my pension each week being spent on rates and I don’t have it.
“I won’t be able to afford to live here, or anywhere at this rate. I’m horrified, I don’t understand why the council isn’t working for us, to help us,” she said.
CHB Mayor Alex Walker told RNZ the Local Water Done Well (LWDW) was the Government’s policy and framework.
“The costs outlined in the current model are confronting, however council is actively working on options to reduce this cost, as outlined in the report to council on June 5.
“We take every person, in every community seriously. Takapau was the first community in the district to get major water treatment plant upgrades in 2019,” she said.
CHBDC said it had the “perfect storm” of water problems in the region, with years of underinvestment, increasing regulations and an intimidating list of three waters infrastructure that needed upgrading or replacing.
Some 85% of total council debt is related to the three waters programme, with 25% of the drinking-water piping network and 40% of the wastewater piping network at high risk of failure.
Two water reservoirs are over 100 years old and need replacing, seven water treatment plants need $47 million of upgrades, and six wastewater treatment plants are not compliant and urgently need upgrading to the tune of $112m.
The mayor said the council had consulted with the community for five weeks and had 10 meetings, including two in Takapau.
“Affordability. Affordability. Affordability. It is our key challenge and Local Water Done Well does not convincingly deliver that for us yet. Our community can see it and they are, quite rightly, not happy,” Walker said.
She said the council was continuously talking to the Government about the district’s challenges and opportunities.
“We have made multiple approaches to Government, including seeking financial support and leading early work across the region on the Hawke’s Bay Model in 2019.
“Local Water Done Well is the Government’s approach to address the challenges districts like ours face, which sets out that ratepayers not Government pays for water assets like any other utility, such as electricity or gas,” she said.
Residents don’t just have an issue with the cost, but also with what they said was a lack of consultation with residents over the massive water rates hike being proposed.
Kim Mathewson told RNZ the council had known about the proposal since December, but only informed residents in May.
“They’re not being transparent right now and presenting all the figures. The information they gave us at the community meeting was like a PowerPoint presentation for a business, it didn’t give you the facts.
“It didn’t highlight the $7000 increase and it was so small at the bottom of the page ... to me that’s not being transparent ... it’s being dishonest,” she said.
But Mayor Alex Walker said the council had been transparent, and the financial rules presented in December have rapidly changed and are no longer correct.
“That we were approaching consultation has been flagged in the media, and the regional work towards LWDW has been reported on repeatedly over the last few years.
“We have had constructive conversations with people across the district. Most people are aware we are fighting for them, not with them, to make the district a better place and figure out an affordable solution,” Walker said.
However, residents want to see CHBDC lobby the Government for more funding, to try and reduce the burden on ratepayers.
“They have to fight the fight with the Government. I’ve said to them: ‘When you first saw this why did you not come to us, we are your biggest ally and you chose not to use us.’
“We could have been fighting this fight two years ago. The consultation period has been too short, but I do know it’s been the same for every community,” Kim Mathewson said.
Under the new Local Water Done Well scheme, the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council consulted with its community on three options: a regional-controlled organisation (its preferred option), a standalone district council-controlled organisation or an in-house delivery unit.
However, under the scheme there are also two other options that weren’t presented to CHB residents: a mixed council and consumer trust-owned model, and a consumer trust-owned organisation where assets are transferred from the council to a trust.
“They should have showed us all the options and presented them much better,” Mathewson said.
However, CHBDC said it was only able to legislatively comply with three options, which was what it presented to the community in the Consultation Document, and this was explained on its website.
Having now heard the public submissions on the proposed options for water services, the council will deliberate these at its meeting on July 3.
All councils have to submit a water service delivery plan to the Government by September 3.
- RNZ
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