A proposal to ease the way for hard-hit Napier ratepayers rates in times of crisis is being considered by the Napier City Council as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
It comes in reviews of rates postponement and remission policies prompted, by staff who say current policy was designed for a "very small" and individual scale and numbers of applications in times of such crises could overwhelm its systems, and delay the processes.
Council investment and funding manager Garry Hrustinsky told a council meeting on Thursday the system currently provides for dealing with applications on an individual basis.
The council could quickly be overwhelmed if there were "more than a handful" of applications at the same time.
He said there was need for a "broad-based" system to deal with such a situation and to apply fairness.
