Matamata-Piako Mayor Ash Tanner says the ratepayer deserves to know what their money is being spent on. Photo / Christel Yardley, Waikato Times
Matamata-Piako Mayor Ash Tanner says the ratepayer deserves to know what their money is being spent on. Photo / Christel Yardley, Waikato Times
A Waikato mayor’s message to ratepayers over where their money is spent – complete with a barb at Wellington – has prompted a pithy comeback from the Local Government Minister.
Matamata-Piako District Council Mayor Ash Tanner took out a two-page ad in Matamata’s local paper Scene last week, bearing thecouncil logo and contact details, going into detail as to what exactly rates fund.
The particulars ranged from 224km of footpath, 109 elderly units and 1200 acres (485ha) of grass mown, joining the expected roading, water and wastewater statistics.
Tanner believes local councils are “copping flak” from the Government about overspending and pushing rates too high.
Tanner added he was unimpressed by the discourse from the Government surrounding local rates, a point he’s expressed previously.
“They’re talking about a maximum of [a] 4% rate increase but they fail to tell you that excludes water and wastewater. Well, water and wastewater is the very thing that is driving rates up to an unaffordable level.“
Tanner referenced regulations surrounding those two factors as the culprit behind cost increases, pointing to the Matamata treatment plant upgrade going from $11 million last year to $68m now.
“Now, that’s chasing new regulations, trying to meet new regulation standards.”
The Government has proposed a 2-4% cap on rates increases in a bid to reduce pressure on household budgets.
When announcing the policy in December, Watts, the Local Government Minister, said ratepayers deserve councils that live within their means and focus on the basics.
In response to Tanner, Watts said the new regulations were embedded to “strip out excessive and unnecessary regulatory costs” to ensure compliance requirement reached “the level needed for safe, effective water services”.
“The Government knows that the unavoidable solution to years of unsustainable management of council water services, including underinvestment in water infrastructure, comes at a cost to everyday Kiwis.
Tanner’s ad in Scene provided a variety of statistics. Image / Scene
“Let me be very clear that increasing costs to councils and ratepayers for water services are generally not due to ‘new water regulations’ but are due to the requirement to address years of underinvestment and to meet existing regulations – under a new effective and active compliance regime led by the Water Services Authority.”
He added that the exclusion of water-related revenue and expenditure is rates-cap excluded because of the currently existing economic regulations, saying it “will stop councils shifting cost pressures from rates to water charges”.
Tanner said he’s lost count of how many times he’s heard that ratepayers don’t get their money’s worth. He said a “lack of understanding drives people’s frustration”.
Simon Watts said council water services were managed in a unsustainable way for years. Photo / Jonathan Killick, the Post
He added many “didn’t realise it was so vast until you actually put it into figures”, leading to a positive response from the community after the ad was put out.
“I’m not an advocate for pushing rates up as high as we can. I know people are struggling out there but what I’m saying is I think rates are still genuinely value for money for the majority of households.”
“I campaigned on that we [the council] need to be more transparent and we need to let our communities know exactly what we’re doing ... I’m going to give them the good news and the bad news.”
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
