Ratepayer funding for Northland emergency services and sport facilities to continue - Northland Regional Council

Northland Regional Council has voted to continue its funding of emergency services in the region, such as the Northland Rescue Helicopter, after huge opposition from the public to dropping the funding

Crucial lifesaving services in Northland will continue to run after Northland Regional Council backed down on a plan to cut funding for some of the region’s services and regional sporting facilities in its latest Long-Term Plan.

Public pressure from ratepayers is being credited with NRC voting to continue funding some of the region’s vital emergency services after it received a number of submissions on the plan.

As a result of the decision, the council’s total rate rise for the coming year (excluding the “community good” rates for emergency services and sporting facilities) is sitting just over what was consulted at about 11.2 per cent. With the community good rates included, the rates rise is 16.18 per cent, or $84.70 per annual rates bill. This will be confirmed by councillors when they adopt the LTP at their meeting in June.

NRC proposed cutting its Emergency Services Rate – $12 per household a year – which in turn generates $1.11 million annually for the Northland Rescue Helicopter, Surf Life Saving Northern Region, Hato Hone St John, Coastguard Northern Region, Northland and Far North Search and Rescue, and Far North Radio and Sea Rescue. Instead, it planned to funnel the money into core council functions such as environmental work.

However, the services that receive the funding said lives could be lost if the money was cut, with the public sharing those concerns. The council received almost 2300 submissions on the LTP with the “vast majority” opposed to axeing the funding.

The latest decision has been welcomed by Northland Emergency Service Trust chair Paul Ahlers who said the funding is vital to keep the Northland Rescue Helicopters in the air and saving people’s lives.

Ahlers said earlier that if contributions stopped on June 30 this year, as proposed by the council, there would be no time to fill the $535,000 financial gap.

About $1.2m of community funding had to be found each year to cover basic operation costs for the service. Half of the money needed is covered by NRC’s rates contribution, he said.

“We’re thrilled and extremely thankful that this funding has been retained. Council has clearly listened to the public who had overwhelmingly supported community funding for these vital emergency services,” Ahlers said.

Surf Life Saving Northern Regional (SLSNR) general manager Zac Franich said earlier that dropping the funding would have dire consequences, potentially resulting in the loss of lives. SLSNR runs surf patrols at Whangārei Heads, Waipu Cove, Baylys Beach, Ahipara, Ruakākā and Mangawhai Heads.

Northland’s surf lifesavers - based at Whangārei Heads, Waipu Cove, Baylys Beach, Ahipara, Ruakākā and Mangawhai Heads - will continue to get ratepayers' funding after a back down by Northland Regional Council.

The organisation receives between $220,000 and $230,000 a year from council which covers 90 per cent of the funding to place paid surf lifeguards on Northland beaches during weekdays in peak season, including Christmas and New Year’s Day. Franich said losing the funding would severely impact operations.

He was delighted the council had voted to keep supporting emergency services and that councillors had listened to the public, who did not want the funding cut.

“We are really grateful for what NRC has decided and we are really excited to continue our partnership with the council. We just want to thank them for their continued support that allows us to have lifeguards on beaches Monday to Friday, then weekends during the busy season,” Franich said.

He said SLSNR would have loved to see the funding increased but was happy the current level was being maintained.

“We’d also like to thank the councillors who listened to the many people who submitted on this and also all those [people] who did take the time to get their submissions in.”

NRC chair Geoff Crawford said the council received submissions during an intensive month-long public feedback period on its latest 10-year plan, with councillors taking two days to deliberate those this week.

“We’re very grateful for the level of community interest in our LTP and the quality of feedback received,” Crawford said.

He said the vast majority of feedback received related to a proposal to cease funding contributions to emergency services and regional sporting facilities, neither of which fall under the remit of legislative responsibilities for a regional council.

“The feedback from our communities has been loud and clear – people want to see the rates we have in place to support emergency services and regional sporting facilities to continue – and we’ve listened.”

He said councillors have agreed to continue both rates, acknowledging they’re effectively a form of fundraising and an administrative service on behalf of the community.

“This funding for ‘community good’ is quite separate from the core work we do as a regional council, and I think it needs to be viewed as such,” Crawford said.

“We’ve agreed to continue acting as fundraisers via these two rates, which will cost ratepayers about $27.65 a year, and will keep looking at whether there are better ways these community services can be supported into the future.”

Councillors also opted to change the name of the rate used to collect the funds, from the Emergency Services Rate to the Regional Rescue Services Rate, to avoid confusion with the existing Emergency and Hazard Management Rate, collected for core civil defence and hazard management work the council carries out.

Continuation of funding for emergency services is one of a raft of decisions agreed by councillors ahead of the formal adoption of NRC’s LTP 2024-2034 in June.

While emergency services funding was a focus for the majority of those giving feedback on council’s LTP proposals, Crawford said other responses were generally supportive of the work council is planning over the coming years for environmental management, community resilience and regional leadership.

Some of the other changes from what was proposed that have come out of council deliberations include:

■ Supporting an additional operational spend of $472,000 per year from 2024/25 to fund community-led pest management action in western and northern Northland. (This will be paid for by a 1 per cent increase in rates, to be collected via the Pest Management Rate.)

■ Bringing forward work on a project to reduce the risk of flooding in Kerikeri/Waipapa (originally planned to begin in 2026) with modelling work now planned to start in the next 12 months.