Submission

Federated Farmers Submission on Kaikoura District Council’s Draft 3-Year Plan 2018-2021

Federated Farmers submitted their feedback to Kaikoura District on its 3 Year Plan 2018-2021.

The Council faces enormous challenges in order to recover from damage the November 2016 earthquake wrought on its township, so it was given leave to prepare a 3 Year, targeted plan rather than the standard 10-year plan.

The Council has made considerable efforts to be open about the cost of rebuilding their core and social infrastructure, which includes roads, meeting drinking water standards and a community pool.
Central Government has provided some financial support but the Council must turn to its residents to fund the rest of the cost.  

The primary question the Council sought from its plan was how to use general rates to fund part of the cost:

Option 1 – Increase the rates to align with the national average within the coming financial year;
Option 2 –  Align with the national average within two years; or
Option 3 – Take four years to reach the national average.

The Council preferred Option 2, which is quicker and would be less costly in the long-run. It explained that its rates are relatively low compared to the national average and these increases will only get it up to the national
average.  However, Kaikoura’s population is small (just over 3,500 people) and the median income (based on 2013 Stats) was about $26,400, 7 percent below the national median of $28,500.  19.2 percent of the population aged
over 15 earned more than $50,000 per annum, compared to 26.7 percent for New Zealand a whole.  Rural ratepayers already pay a large proportion of the District’s rates and this will increase under the proposed options.

Federated Farmers expressed concern that most ratepayers, including rural ratepayers, will not be able to accommodate the preferred option.  It has suggested option 3: take four years instead.

If the Council must adopt Option Two, we would support this provided the Council sells a portion of its shares in the Marlborough Regional Forestry and use the proceeds to reduce the need to borrow as much for rebuild projects debt (which will in turn reduce the need for such large rates increases).