Getting a rates remission should not be such a burden: Linda Hall

A lot of burden for sorting out an unexpected rates remission is on ratepayers’ backs, writes Linda Hall.

* Linda Hall is a horse-riding lifestyler who worked for Hawke’s Bay Today for 31 years and now pens a fortnightly column.

OPINION

I have a lot of empathy for Hawke’s Bay’s regional and district councillors. Their job is not easy and social media makes it even harder, with some nasty and personal comments aimed at some.

However, my empathy waned quite a bit when I received our regional rates. They have almost doubled.

We knew it was coming but it was just another kick in the guts and pull-that-belt-tighter moment. For some, there are no notches left on their belt and I worry about how they will cope with this.

The increase is due to regional rates being based on capital value rather than land value.

Despite so many people writing submissions against the proposal, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council decided to go ahead with it, saying it wasn’t about the money, as some people would pay less and the funds it received would be the same as the year before.

I have not heard one whisper from anyone paying less than last year, so please let me know if you are.

And then there was the new public transport fee for more than 1000 people.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) is offering a rates remission on it, because for some people it’s excessive.

Someone sent me a post they had found on HBRC’s website. It took me a while to find the notice and it certainly wasn’t front and centre on the website last week, which is what I was expecting.

The notice says “if you pay a Public Transport Rate of between $200 and $400, our remission will cut your contribution to $200″. Oh yes, and it’s up to you to email HBRC to claim it.

Our public transport fee this year is $221.92. A friend’s is $212.59 so I’m assuming if we apply for the rebate we will get $21.92 and my friend will get $12.59.

It’s hard to get my head around the fact that we weren’t meant to pay any more than $200 for public transport, yet more than $200 was charged on our bills.

Under current legislation, the rates bills could not be changed before going out, so the council’s only option was to offer a remission. There was no option available for the council to change the bills.

Perhaps it’s time to change the legislation.

In the meantime, HBRC should, in my opinion, put a big notice on its website and Facebook sites asking people to deduct the amount from their transport fee to an even $200, take it off the total bill and pay that amount.

For those that don’t do it, HBRC could put a credit on next year’s account. Problem solved.

Yes, it’s probably not that simple, but HBRC wouldn’t have to deal with emails from ratepayers, and those who don’t see the notices or hear about it from others will not miss out on the remission.

A lot of burden for sorting this out at present is on ratepayers’ backs, and we already have a heavy load to haul.

HBRC responds:

We agree the local government system is cumbersome. We have endeavoured to provide information about remissions by letter, email, online and via Facebook.

The legislation governing council activities on rates says local councils must follow their written policies on remissions. The existing council policy states that requests for remissions must be in writing.

We have tried to make the remission request as simple as we can. Because this is a straightforward remission, ratepayers do not need to complete a form. Instead, we are only asking for a name and the property’s VRN number by email.