Ōtorohanga District Council is being asked to scale back plans to raise water connection and usage charges.
Ōtorohanga Community Board spent an hour of its June meeting agonising whether to accept council finance manager Brendan O’Callaghan recommendation to increase annual rates for water connections from $200 to $225 usage rates from $1.80 to $2.10, plus GST, for every cubic metre.
“Based on the average per connection consumption for the prior year of 220 cubic metres, this would result in an annual increase for an average property of $91.00, comprising $25 increase in the fixed charge and $66 for consumption,” O’Callaghan said in his report.
“In terms of spread of the increases, the lowest user would have an increase of $25, based on the fixed charge increase, while the biggest user would have an increase of $2,016 (GST exclusive).
“Based on these charges, and the current consumption and water loss figures, the income received from water charging would be in line with the budgeted income requirement for 2025-26 of $1,086,500.”
O’Callaghan said the main risk associated with the decision was if the council’s water supply account were to get into deficit
Ōtorohanga ward councillor Steve Hughes started the conversation with concern.
“It’s pretty tough out there,” he said.
“It hurts like hell. People can’t afford to pay these charges.”
Board member Jo Butcher echoed his concerns.
“It’s come at a really terrible time. Interest rates have only just started to come down.”
Butcher was also concerned about the uncertainty of costs surrounding Waikato Water Done Well.
“I know it’s going to go up,” she said.
O’Callaghan warned deferring increasing charges would lead to a greater increase next year.
Board deputy chair Peter Coventry said there was no easy answer and wanted more time to consider charges.
Chair councillor Katrina Christison said the council needed to communicate to ratepayers in layman’s terms why an increase was necessary.
The communications team needed to create a fact sheet, she said.
After an hour the board decided to recommend a $20 increase to annual connection charges to $220, instead of $225, and a 20-cent increase to $2 per cubic metre of water used, instead of $2.10 and that the communications team create a fact sheet explaining why increase was necessary.
Business enablement manager Graham Bunn warned the board that the council may not heed its recommendation.
Speaking at an extra ordinary council meeting the following day, mayor Max Baxter said the reality was that deficits in council budgets had to be addressed.
At that meeting councillors heard that it had received just four submissions on its preference to hand its drinking and wastewater over to the council-controlled organisation Waikato Water Done Well.
Two of the submissions supported Ōtorohanga joining six other councils in the organisation, one asked the council to consider an enhanced status quo model, while the fourth gave no preference.
The council will confirm its decision on June 24.
Mayoral hopeful and councillor Rodney Dow spoke in favour of enhanced status quo and said scale was not always the answer, controlling costs was.
Engineering and assets manager Mark Lewis said the council’s water account was in deficit.
“It’ll probably be the same staff doing the same job that they do every day with a different jacket on and being paid my somebody else,” Baxter said.
“There’s so many things that won’t change. Everything will be the same as it was, but under a different regime.”
Chief executive Tanya Winter asked: “Why would we give away technically competent staff?”
Hughes said he was surprised at the deficit.
“We have been living in a false economy. The council south of us are double water charges. Is that reflecting their costs? We have been behind the eight ball for so long with people sitting on their hands.”
