Capital value rates off the table

Broadwood's swing bridge, closed in April after it was assessed as too dangerous to use, is to be replaced. Photo /Peter de Graaf

The Far North District Council will not be changing its rating system from land to capital value.

The decision, confirmed in the process of adopting the long-term plan 2021-31, was one of three made on key issues on which the council sought public feedback on in March. The others were options for improving its housing for the elderly service, and whether it should become a shareholder in Northland Inc.

Mayor John Carter says the council received 740 submissions in response to its Navigating Our Course public consultation, and 100 people had presented their views in person to councillors and staff.

All feedback had been considered, including on issues not proposed by the council, including the decision to allocate $100,000 towards a replacement swing bridge at Broadwood (after the original bridge was demolished for safety reasons).

"We have heard you, and we have tried to accommodate those issues (people) are truly passionate about," he said.

A more critical commitment was made to allocate $100 million over the next 10 years to improving reticulated water supplies to better cope with droughts and developing land-based disposal options for wastewater.

Carter said those commitments have increased the council's expenditure, requiring a 6.74 per cent increase in rates revenue in the first year, 1.2 per cent more than initially proposed.

"That increase represents the total rates take. Rate increases for individual property owners will vary, and some may be less than 6.74 per cent," he said.

Among the more contentious issues was a proposal to change the rating system to reduce its complexity and make rates "fairer," he added, including basing rates on capital value instead of land value and to absorb uniform annual charges into the general rate.

Overall, the community did not support these proposals.

"We recognised this, and have opted not to significantly change our rating system," he said.

The council would continue to investigate ways of making the rating system fairer, but major decisions would now wait until more was known about a government inquiry into the future of local government funding, changes to the Resource Management Act and proposed national reforms to drinking water, stormwater and wastewater.

Other key long-term plan decisions included beginning a process to identify suitable organisations to take over the district's 147 housing for the elderly units, albeit only if existing tenant arrangements were protected and service provision and the number of units were maintained or increased.

The purchase of a 33 per cent share in Northland Inc., to help stimulate sustainable economic development and ensure that the needs of the district, Māori economic development and community wellbeing, as well as economic benefits, were an integral part of Northland Inc's work programme, was agreed, on the proviso that the Kaipara District Council also invests.

The plan also allocated $50,000 during the first year to fund Māori participation in council committees and community boards.