To the editor

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 46, 7 May 1985, Page 14

To the editor

Sir, I feel obliged to reply to the letter in the 'Bulletin' of April 30 from Mr Bill Peach. No council wishes to raise rates for the sake of the exercise. Ohakune Borough Council is no exception; every councillor is a ratepayer in their own right and 1 note that their decision was unanimous. The fact exists that the Borough requires some 35% more ratepayer money this year than last. It is unavoidable and is, quite simply in large part the cost to the town of the massive development and progress taking place here. One third of the increase is an allowance for the rate of inflation; a condition over which we, as council, have no control. It is false reasoning indeed for Mr Peach to quote government wage guidelines of 7%: this applies to the wage round in 1984 and a further round is due to start in three or four months and the rate increase we are talking about is for the year 1985/ 86! More to the point had Mr Peach mentioned the 25% increase in bulk electricity charges (streetlighting?), increases in post office services, let alone the massive increases in petrol price of the past few months. A local authority is a considerable

user of all these commodities. Devaluation has caused a massive increase in the cost of bitumen for roading. I regret that the 'Bulletin' did not dig into the reasons for a rate rise as assiduously and carefully as they did recently into the land dealings of a councillor. The estimates are publicly available and the causes apparent. I will outline a few: some $25,000 extra ratepayer money is necessary for roading. The citizens of Mangawhero Terrace extension will clearly explain where some of this money should go! Roading is increasingly expensive and the massive increase in volume of traffic over winter months means significant wear and tear on existing services. $25,000 is earmarked for plant: we are buying a tractor and mowers for the upkeep of our pleasant but expensive reserves which, with development, are increasing in number all the time. It has cost the Borough incidentally, $5,000 per year for the mowing of the reserves in the Turoa Village: this is 1% alone of the rates for this single item. The Borough employs the

same number of staff now as when I was first elected to council. In this year we have decided to return the number employed to that which pertained in the mid 1970s. This, plus a gratuity to the Borough's longest serving staff member and employer contributions to the National Provident Fund for staff who wish to provide for their retirement, and also a statutory job evaluation of staff accounts for a further $25,000. I could go on. 1 note, in spite of Mr Peach 's assertion to the contrary, that the higher value properties in the town did not suffera rate increase last year; in fact most experienced a slight reduction in the total rate. A case in point is a commercial property in which Mr Peach has an interest: the rates were static for two years. This came about by the introduction of the uniform land charge which, in turn, resulted in lower valued properties experiencing anything up to a 500% increase. My sympathies rest with residential owners of middle value properties whom, I believe, tolerate a disproportionate share of the burden no matter how, under existing arrangements, it is distributed. It is scant comfort if you wish to

live here permanently to be told that your property is worth a small fortune! With new Government valuation due this year I imagine that a rise in land value from an existing $10,000 to a probable $30,000 for a % acre section is an intelligent guess. One spin-off, hopefully, is that the sons and daughters of those of us who are permanent residents may benefit from our boom; that the jobs that tourism creates will go increasingly to the young of the town rather than to imports. The answer to rate escalation is not easily found. It may well be that some relief may be forthcoming if we choose to lose our identity as a Borough and amalgamate into a larger unit. I would like the community to address itself to this question. Certainly we can expect little comfort next year. In addition to accommodating inflation we must also allow for GST on rates. These factors alone will add at least 20^/ to all rates. I am stupid enough to smoke. If I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day I have worked out that the amount this now costs , is roughly equal to the rates on my 1/3 acre section. While paying rates is painful it is probably better for my health.

W.

Taylor

Mayor

Su . I see that Ohakune is to get the ultimate in status s\mbols, a rate rise of over 300 . They say that people get the government that they deserve. What can we have done to deserve such a bounteous gift. Perhaps laziness. apath\.

and not wanting to be iP.xohcd are the virtues we are being rewarded for. I can onl\ hope that when the local authorities are lorced to amalgamate. the new authority created is less ready to reward us in this W.W

/an F.

Heappe i

Ohakune