Masterton septic service operator Graham McClymont reckons there's something smelly with Masterton District Council's proposal to hike the cost of dumping liquid waste to sewer for rural ratepayers.
Mr McClymont says the proposed increase from $48 per tonne to $64 per tonne would affect his ability to operate his business, GT
Environmental Services, profitably and fairly.
In the submission to the council's draft annual plan for 2010/11 he presented yesterday afternoon, Mr McClymont said different charges across Wairarapa's three districts meant waste was moved across boundaries and offered an unfair advantage to some operators.
He noted Carterton District Council charged $45 including GST per tonne and South Wairarapa District Council charged $36.56 per tonne _ and that neither council was proposing increases. But the Masterton District Council's charge, he claimed, had risen from $9 per tonne before 2005 to a proposed $64 per tonne this year.
Mr McClymont asked that charges come directly under the council's trade waste bylaw and charges, which he said commercial operators using the Johnston St septic station currently fell outside.
''At present we are subject to a charge set under commercial prices at the landfill, where we are actually discharging to the oxidation ponds.''
He had found two district councils that monitored liquid waste operators and applied the trade waste charges as per their policies.
In Masterton, this charge would work out at about $21 per tonne, he said.
His submission is being considered along with almost 50 being heard this week by a seven-member hearings committee.
