Rates offer may attract thousands

Thousands of low-income Northlanders are expected to swamp councils with applications for rates rebates now the Government has raised the threshold.
The Government says changes will come into effect in July next year.
The income threshold for receiving a rebate will rise from its current level of $7400 to $20,000, and the maximum rebate would rise from $200 up to $500.
Nationwide, the changes are expected to mean about 300,000 people are eligible for Government help to pay their rates.
The Far North District and Whangarei District Councils estimate "several thousand" of those will live within their boundaries.
The Kaipara District Council also says a large number of its ratepayers will be eligible.
While welcoming the increases, representatives of Far North and Whangarei councils say a government department, such as Work and Income or Inland Revenue, should administer the scheme.
"We administer it for the Government. They declare their income, we do the number crunching," said Whangarei council rates manager Bill Harris.
Only about 20 Whangarei property owners now qualified for a rebate.
If applications were to number in the thousand, the council would probably have to employ extra staff and arrange extra office space just to "keep up", he said.
But all that could be avoided if Work and Income, which was already set up to handle similar applications, managed the scheme, said Mr Harris.
Far North District Council spokesman Rick McCall said about 200 people now qualified for the rebate and that would likely rise to "several thousand".
"It takes around 15 minutes to process an application.
"That's quite a significant impact on resources," he said.
However, a spokesman for Local Government Minister Chris Carter said councils had always done the administration.
In 1977, there were 102,000 rebates granted, but the scheme had failed to keep up with inflation. In 2004, only 3529 used the scheme.
Mr Carter has written to councils saying he believes the scheme should have a "positive impact on the lifestyles of many elderly people and families on low incomes".
"I believe it will also ease pressure on councils that are trying to accommodate the plight of low-income households when setting their rates," he says.
But Salvation Army Whangarei community and family services manager Phil Robertson said the changes would probably not help any of the people on low incomes who he worked with.
Most clients were beneficiaries living in private rental accommodation or Housing New Zealand homes.
"Very few come in here that are owning their own home.
"There are very few people earning less than $20,000 that are owning their own homes.
"If they put the threshold up to $30,000, there might have been more sense in it," Mr Robertson said.
Meanwhile, Far North council's Mr McCall said only eight ratepayers had taken part in the council's "rates postponement scheme", introduced last year, which allowed a person's rates bill to be paid from the estate after death.
Kaipara council chief executive Jack McKerchar said his district offered a similar scheme but no ratepayers had taken up the offer.