Federated Farmers Submission on the Gisborne District Council Long Term Plan
Federated Farmers congratulates Gisborne District Council (GDC) for a mostly clear and easy to understand draft Long Term Plan. It is upfront and specific with its use of key proposals, the effects on a range of example properties and the background information found in the main sections of the report. Transparency is further enhanced by providing ratepayers with a detailed itemised rates assessment and we appreciate that GDC makes this extra effort.
Federated Farmers supports the new proposed rating methods and the key principles the draft Long Term Plan was developed on. The new proposed rating methods – particularly the transition to two differential areas - are easier to understand and simpler. However we are concerned that the effects of the changes in rating policies are somewhat obscured by the impact of revaluations. This has made it difficult to assess whether the movements up or down of various parts of individual rates changes are due primarily to one change or several. With this in mind Federated Farmers still supports the approach taken by council to reduce the rating systems complexities and that the transitional rating remission policy is still in place to assist in unforeseen or extreme circumstances.
For more, see our full submission