Cyclone Gabrielle victim estimates land value has dropped $1m - but council rate bill same

Alastair Needes is still battling with the Hastings District Council over rates for his property which was devasted in Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Supplied

Landowners whose homes were submerged by Cyclone Gabrielle say it’s unfair to force them to pay the exact same rates as they were before the destruction.

The Pākōwhai landowners claim their properties, parts of which encroach on the edge of the red zone known as Category 3 brought in after the cyclone, are now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars less.

They say it feels like they are being “kicked in the guts” by Hastings District Council and want their land revalued, even offering to pay themselves for an independent valuer.

But Hastings council says there is nothing it can do until land values are re-rated for 2026. The Rating Valuation Act says individuals can’t get valuations to establish rates for their property.

‘We have been through enough’

Adam van der Meer and his wife Jo at their Pakowhai property.

Before the cyclone Adam van der Meer and Alastair Needes lived in Pākōwhai, a small settlement between the cities of Napier and Hastings, which was flooded when two rivers, the Tūtaekuri and Ngaruroro, breached their banks on February 14, 2023.

They lost everything.

“We have been through enough,” Needes said.

“Within three hours my wife and I lost everything that meant anything to us. I stood on a shipping container and prepared to die.”

Needes says he is at his wit’s end with his rates bill and is refusing to pay, risking potential debt collector action, until it represents a fairer reflection of the value of his land.

“Two years later we are still fighting for a fair go.”

A council spokesperson said it had explained the rates collection process to Needes, which included debt collection as the last step.

“No debt collection threat or action has been taken, and an offered meeting has been declined.”

Van der Meer says he was stunned to find his July 2024 to June 2025 rates assessment for his property even included a swimming pool safety rate.

“We don’t have a swimming pool. It’s gone along with the house.”

The council has since removed the swimming pool safety fee after the van der Meers pointed it out, but it isn’t budging in other areas.

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said many people in the community were still struggling with the financial and emotional impact of the cyclone.

“We understand owners of property severely damaged by the cyclone were hugely impacted and needed substantial assistance to get through such a terrible experience, hence the programmes and policies put in place by the Crown and councils (and ultimately tax and ratepayers) to support them.

“This has seen almost $100m of ratepayer and taxpayer money used to fund the Category 3 voluntary buy-out of properties, relocation grants and the demolition of flood-affected homes, while owners of red and yellow-stickered properties have had up to two years of their rates remitted as they have got back on their feet.”

Needes says he’s getting nowhere.

Alastair Needes is still battling with the Hastings District Council over rates for his property which was devasted in Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Supplied

“We took the voluntary relocation grant. It was complicated because while 4ha of our property was in Category 3, 0.8ha was in 2C (improved or repaired flood protection needed).

“In a nutshell, the land is worth around $300,000 to $400,000, if that, and they are rating us on $1.4m, the pre-cyclone value.

“I’m not a criminal, I’ve always paid my rates but now I’m protesting by not paying them because it’s just not fair.”

Van der Meer said he had offered to pay for an independent valuer but the council declined.

“We are just tired of battling and getting kicked in the guts. It’s not good emotionally for me or my wife. The council’s attitude is to take it or leave it. They don’t want to talk about it,” van der Meer said.

“We have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in land value.

“We are trying to move forward and then just when we think we are getting somewhere this happens.

“I think since Category 3 property owners can’t live on their land and are getting next to no service for their rates, the fair thing for the council to do is to get them revalued, as most if not all have devalued. And adjust rates accordingly.”

Hastings District Council deputy chief executive Bruce Allan said if a home was removed from a property, it impacted the capital value of the property but not the land value, meaning there was no adjustment to rates this year.

“At the time of Cyclone Gabrielle, HDC was having the district-wide valuations finalised and had to go through the process of getting an Order in Council to allow those valuations to be finalised using pre-cyclone values.

“That Order in Council came with a restriction which meant that land values could not be adjusted because of the effects of the cyclone.

“The Rating Valuation Act, which sets out the valuation process, does not allow individuals to undertake their valuations to establish the rates for their property.

“Hastings Council’s next district-wide rating valuation will be undertaken later this year, with August 1 set as the valuation date. These new values will come into effect for the calculation of rates from July 1, 2026. There is nothing council can do to bring this forward.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.