Damage to Wanganui roads by logging trucks is a slow-burner, compared with the district's sewage problem, but it's just as expensive, Wanganui rural community board chairman Alan Taylor says.
The road situation will be another multimillion-dollar cost for new Wanganui councillors to weigh up - along with the malfunctioning wastewater treatment plant and earthquake-prone buildings.
It's possible Wanganui District Council (WDC) will get some money to put toward fixing the wastewater treatment plant by suing a consultant. There was no such possibility with rural roads.
"The problem is as large as the sewage issue. It's the same amount of money and it's all on us," Mr Taylor said.
The Wanganui District has one of the highest percentages of land in commercial forest in the North Island, about 15,000ha. Much of it will be harvested in the next 25 years.
A large volume is on hill country with fragile soils. Maintaining roads there is difficult, even without logging trucks grinding their way around hillsides and through valleys.
Rural roads are WDC's responsibility. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) subsidises their maintenance by 62 per cent. The Government has said the level of that subsidy will not increase, and may decrease, and also that it will not pay for extra damage caused by forestry traffic.
The harvest is likely to happen at a fairly steady rate across the next 25 years. Council-commissioned reports have estimated repairs to rural roads will cost about $1 million extra a year. But the damage could be greater and more expensive. Their estimate didn't include damage to bridges and culverts, or the effect of inflation.
Getting forestry companies to pay would be difficult, because the council would have to prove they did the damage. Mr Taylor said the companies have been unwilling to pay tolls or a bounty on logs.
Also, forestry is one of the district's earners and the council will not want to discourage growers.
It might be possible to limit the cost by confining the damage to just a few roads - the most direct routes to state highways. Damage to state highways is not a cost for ratepayers.
And it might be possible to make sure logging is done only in dry weather, when the roads are stronger.
The other alternative is simply to accept having roads of a worse standard. The new council will have to grapple with all this, and has no policy yet.
Mr Taylor said it would be prudent for WDC and Horizons Regional Council to put some controls on new forest planting - for example by requiring a harvesting plan before planting can begin.