Council Sweetens Ohura Referendum Offer

Ruapehu District Council (RDC) has voted to fund the cost of purchasing water tanks in Ohura if residents support the proposal to close the current Water Treatment Plant.

Under the resolution adopted at today’s council meeting RDC will fund the purchase of one 30,000 litre (or smaller) tank per occupied home that is currently connected to the existing water scheme.

RDC Mayor Don Cameron said that Ohura property owners were initially offered the ability to purchase water tanks through council on favourable financial terms that would have seen the average Ohura household owning their tank within 10 years.

The problem for council and all other Ruapehu ratepayers is that a significant number of Ohura residents are already finding their rates severely unaffordable with about a third not being paid in any given year,” he said.

“Essentially Ohura has too few residents who for some time have not been able to self-fund the operation and maintenance of their reticulated drinking water system.”

“This has seen the burden for keeping the system running fall on all Ruapehu ratepayers.”

Mayor Cameron said that the legislation does not allow Council to simply leave Ohura residents to solve this issue on their own.

“Under the Local Government Act 2002 there is a prescribed process that must be followed when changing the way water services are delivered.”

“The current binding postal referendum is part of this prescribed process.”

“As we have gained feedback from the Ohura community in response to the referendum information it has become apparent that Council needed to take on a bigger part of the costs associated with transitioning to water tanks to make the proposal viable.”

“From a both a Ohura and Ruapehu ratepayer perspective having Council purchase the water tanks is a financial ‘no brainer’ compared to continuing to supply water via the current Water Treatment Plant.”

“Purchasing a water tank for each house on the current water scheme is significantly cheaper than continuing with the status quo for both Ohura residents and ratepayers.”

Mayor Cameron noted that finding a long term viable solution to supplying drinking water for Ohura has remained elusive for a very long time.

“This is despite deliberation by council over a number of years, numerous public meetings, various surveys and significant expenditure on the problem.”

“Council firmly believes we need to take a pragmatic approach to encouraging Ohura residents to vote to shut down the current Water Treatment Plant and install water tanks.”

Mayor Cameron added that Council hopes that Ohura residents see the offer to buy water tanks as a ‘vote of confidence’ in the future of the township.

“The closing down of the current Water Treatment Plant and installation of water tanks provides a sustainable solution to potable water supply for the township while significantly reducing yearly rate payments,” he said.

“Voting ‘yes’ to the referendum will leave more money in Ohura residents pockets which has to be a good thing for the township’s future prospects.”

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