Carterton forestry owners are facing average rates increases of about 1260% under a proposed rating shakeup to help pay for the district's roads.
By Emily Ireland of Local Democracy Reporting
Carterton District Council confirmed that modelling it used, provided by Australasian advisory firm Morrison Low, contained an error.
Under the corrected calculation, the average forestry operator faces a rate increase from $2825 to $38,391.
The council was currently consulting on the overhaul of its revenue and financing policy which included introducing a targeted roading rate and increasing the rural differential from 0.8 to 1.0 (the amount rural ratepayers pay compared to household and commercial rates).
The proposed targeted roading rate sought to collect roading revenue from ratepayers in a more proportionate way, following an assessment by Morrison Low which was commissioned by the three Wairarapa councils.
It found dairy, forestry and pastoral farming collectively made up more than 68% of Carterton District Council-funded, non-weather related, roading costs in the Wairarapa town.
When the council initially launched consultation, the forestry sector faced average proposed increases of about 800%, dairy farms faced average increases of 144%, and residential and lifestyle ratepayers faced decreases of 14%.
The proposal received backlash from rural and forestry sectors and Carterton dairy farmer and Fonterra shareholder councillor John Stevenson identified errors in the modelling used.
Carterton District Council subsequently investigated the discrepancy with Morrison Low and identified that Wairarapa production volumes included herds in Tararua, while the land area used to allocate that production did not.
Morrison Low acknowledged the inclusion and has updated its report and supporting data.
This change has reduced the allocation of heavy vehicle roading costs to dairy, while increasing the allocation to forestry, bumping the average rates increase for forestry to 1258.7% and lowering the average dairy farm increase to 91.8%.
It meant an average dairy farm currently paying $8825 in rates would pay $16,929 under the proposal.
An average forestry ratepayer currently paying $2825 would pay $38,391.
'A discrepancy which needed addressing'
Mayor Steve Cretney said the council acknowledged both the discrepancy and the important role that scrutiny from the community and industry had played in identifying it.
“I want to acknowledge John Stevenson and Fonterra for questioning the dairy volumes and bringing his local knowledge to the consultation.
“That scrutiny helped identify a discrepancy which needed addressing.
"The original information should have been accurate, and we acknowledge that.
"We have listened to the community, corrected the information, updated the reports and had Infometrics complete a peer review of the methodology."
Cretney said the additional scrutiny strengthened the information available to elected members and the community and said consultation was "not simply about counting submissions for and against a proposal".
"It gives people an opportunity to test council’s evidence, challenge assumptions and bring forward information and local knowledge that we may not otherwise have.
"Council will continue to listen carefully to key stakeholders and ratepayers through our consultation and hearings process before any decisions are made."
As a result of the new modelling, the council had extended the consultation period to Monday, October 26.
– LDR is local body journalism funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
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