County Paid it's Way.

Ruapehu Bulletin, 31 August 1990, Page 8

County Paid it's Way.

• During the meetings to discuss the proposed rating philosophy of the Ruapehu District Council there has arisen a mistaken belief that residents of the former Waimarino County had not been paying enough in rates and that somehow that was because some of their costs were being borne by the Boroughs. I think it needs to be clearly understood that the level of rates prevailing in the respective Boroughs before amalgamation was determined internally - by the individual Councils who rated to pay for the services they considered their respective Councils required. Likewise the County did the same for it's rate-payers. The information and examples that we were shown at these meetings by the Council has reiterated the fact that a uniform rate encompassing both rural and urban land is in no rate-payers best interest. Council management have obviously overlooked the fact that not only are rural and urban land quite different

commodities that appreciate and depreciate at varying rates and times, but large anomalies in land valuations within the Council boundaries also exist. A simple example of this would be a comparison of County roads between Waimarino and Taumarunui Counties. At present Waimarino and Taumarunui rural rate-payers contribute $2300 per kilometre of County road in rates. The proposed uniform rate however would see Taumarunui rural ratepayers contributing $2400 per kilometre of County road in rates and Waimarino rural ratepayers $4000 per kilometre of country road. I see no uniformity in that. What I do see is that Waimarino rural land values are proportionally.considerably higher than those in the Taumarunui rural area. To use another example comparing Ohakune Borough with Taumarunui Borough and excluding the special charges (water, sewerage etc.). A uniform rate based on land values would see Ohakune with a population of 1,200

people paying more in general rates than the Taumarunui Borough, with a population of 6,000. Why? Because the land value of Ohakune happens to be more than that of Taumarunui. Because Waimarino and Taumarunui districts are geographically quite diverse a uniform general rate would be full of anomalies and inequitable to all citizens. That the new District Council should be proposing a reduction in rates for the Boroughs and an increase for Waimarino County implies that the County was not funding it's own works and administration. Clearly that was not the case nor is there any evidence to suggest that the Boroughs were providing services to County rate-payers for which they were not receiving a contribution - either from the County Council, as in the case of libraries and rubbish dumps, or from the users of the services, as in the case of a County resident paying for a plot in the Municipal Cemetery. It is clear that a substantial rate decrease in the Boroughs at the expense of a massive increase in the Waimarino County is unjust in the extreme and a mis-use of majority voting power. A more equitable solution would be for the Boroughs to pay the same rates as last year and the County ratepayers fund a small increase to pay for those services which the County Council previously made a lump sum

contribution

R.J.

Frew