Railbike Adventures in Mahia contemplating closure over Wairoa District Council rates bill of $10,000-plus

Railbike Adventures in Mahia is another of Geoff Main's rail bike ventures, which include one in Gisborne.

A business owner who had hoped to transform a derelict rail line into a rail bike attraction in Mahia is contemplating closure, saying Wairoa District Council is killing the attraction by charging more than $10,000 a year in rates.

But the council says it has simply treated the business in the same way as it would any commercial venture on railway land.

Railbike Adventures was due to finally open in northern Hawke’s Bay in January 2024, six years after operations manager Geoff Main took out a 30-year lease of the track from KiwiRail.

The Mahia cycle trips were set to take tourists from Nuhaka to the Kopuwhara viaduct on a tandem railbike that only required peddling.

Main had planned to time the opening of his Mahia adventure for 2021 before Covid; logistical and storm delays put the brakes on.

It was set to complement his Gisborne railbike adventure - on which he pays no rates to the Gisborne District Council - which takes riders on a one-hour return journey through rural country, past vineyards and across the Waipaoa Bridge or a 32km, half-day return journey to explore coastal views and tunnels along the East Coast.

Main said his initial lease was for 48km of track in Wairoa council territory; however, 28km between Wairoa and Nuhaka was unusable because of issues with dogs, metal, and electric fences across the track.

He lost a further 4km after a storm after Cyclone Gabrielle severely damaged the track between Nuhaka and Opoutama, which left him with 16km of usable track.

In December, Main then put the opening on hold again after realising he had a $29,759 bill for rates that had accumulated over the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years.

The bill, paid by KiwiRail to the council and then passed on to him to pay them, was for his lease of the rail line and surrounding land for a tourist venture in Wairoa District Council territory.

Main said he had made the initial checks when the land came up for public tender in 2015 and had a phone call with a KiwiRail employee about the possibility of rates charges before signing the lease in 2018.

He claimed the employee told him there were no rates to pay on the land.

Main said he had assumed that would continue and did not feel at the time he had to ask the council about it before proceeding.

Main said the Mahia region was desperate for tourism, but with the amount that he now owed - and the likelihood of $10,000-plus-a-year rates bills into the foreseeable future - it would be a challenge to run Railbike Adventures in Mahia.

Main submitted to the Wairoa District Council (WDC) for a rates remission in December, but received a response in January saying it wasn’t possible.

In an email sent to the council on January 23, a furious Main said the rates demand was “extortionate” and was frustrated over the decision.

He noted Gisborne District Council hadn’t him charged rates and claimed that Awakeri Rail Adventures in Whakatāne was charged $800 a year for its use of 11km of track.

Wairoa District Council responded to say he would likely be charged an annual rate of $11,516 to use 16km of the track, should his lease continue.

Mahia is the home of a railbike adventure, but it is at risk due to a significant rates bill.

Main said he had worked for years to restore and maintain the 16km stretch of the railway line that he would use from Mahia.

He claimed land on either side of the railway track was valued at a commercial rate rather than a rural rate, despite the fact it was poorly maintained and unable to be used for commercial purposes.

Wairoa mayor Craig Little said land used to operate a railway was non-rateable, but land used for other purposes such as the Railbike Adventures was rateable.

“The council is supportive of Railbike Adventures and wants this business to succeed. However, it needs to be noted that KiwiRail, in leasing the land to a commercial business, becomes responsible for recovering the rates,” Little said.

Wairoa District Council said it had applied the same rating legislation for this business as it would for any other business leasing railway land as per the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.

He said the rates were activated as soon as the lease between KiwiRail and the leaseholder began and that there was a delay before the information reached the Valuation Service Provider and then the council’s rating system.

A KiwiRail spokesperson said KiwiRail had paid the rates due on the land for 2021 and 2022 to the Wairoa District Council.”

They said under the Local Government Rating Act, the land the tenant occupies is rateable, and rates are recoverable as part of the lease agreement that is in place.

“KiwiRail has not made any decisions on what will happen to the stretch of line.”

Main said he was now considering getting out of the 30-year lease with KiwiRail.

* The first version of this story stated that Railbike Adventures was closing its Mahia attraction. Railbike Adventures operations manager Geoff Main says it is contemplating closure, but remains open. The story has been updated to reflect this.