Our Council’s Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund opened on Friday and already $30,000 has been received in a generous donation from Trust Waikato.

"We’re fortunate to have agencies like Trust Waikato that support our district and our communities and we’re extremely grateful for this financial contribution in a time where there are many other areas around the country in grave need for support as well,” says our Mayor Len Salt.

“We’re also grateful to the government for funding an initial contribution of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help flood affected communities in our district,” says Mayor Len. “This is the start of a raft of assistance packages we’re seeking as work through recovery of these extreme weather events.”

Trust Waikato manages investments from the sale of shares of Trust Bank Waikato and uses a portion of the profits each year to support community groups and projects throughout Waikato region.

The Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund is open to Thames-Coromandel District Council residents, ratepayers or small business owners, and not-for-profit organisations who have suffered financial hardship because of damages caused by the Cyclone Gabrielle weather event.

The Fund may be used to support and meet the needs of affected individuals, families, community organisations, small businesses and marae.

It can be used to provide financial support for:

• Cleaning debris from properties where people are uninsured or underinsured
• Supporting individuals/families faced with hardships as a result of the emergency
• Assisting small businesses impacted by the emergency
• Assisting people with basic needs, household goods and personal items where the individual/family is uninsured or underinsured
• Assisting with insurance excess payments

The aim of the fund is to help towards alleviating the emotional and financial stress experienced by individuals and families as a result of the event. The fund provides one off assistance for extraordinary circumstances, where a real need can be shown.

The fund is a last resort measure when people have exhausted other appropriate sources such as Work and Income New Zealand, EQC and other government agencies.

The closing date for applying to the fund is 10 March 2023.

Once closed, all applications will be assessed and available funds will be allocated proportionately to applicants that meet the criteria. The amount available to each applicant that meets the criteria is $1,000 or $2,500. The amount granted will depend on the circumstances of the applicant.

How to apply:

• Online - fill in the online form on our website
• Email - Send applications and supporting information by email to customer.services@tcdc.govt.nz with ‘Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund Application’ in the subject line. Download the fillable PDF application form, save it, fill it in, and attach it to your email.
• Post - Download the fillable PDF application form, save it, fill it in, and post it to us at the following address:

Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund
Thames-Coromandel District Council
Private Bag 1001
THAMES 3540

• In person - Download the fillable PDF application form, save it, fill it in, and bring it in to any of our Council service centres or public libraries along with any additional documents. Copies will also be available at each of these locations.

Download the PDF application form.

If you require assistance to complete the form, please call 07 8680200 and speak to one of our customer service personnel or drop in to one of our Council service centres or public libraries.

Donating to our Coromandel communities

If you would like to donate to help our communities, please use our Council's dedicated bank account below:

01-0455-0090620-02
Particulars: Your phone number
Reference: ReliefFund

Rates relief in stormy times

Our Council is doing all it can to help property-owners whose homes have been badly damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle. Properties that have been deemed uninhabitable (red stickered) are being granted a rates remission. Usually, we ask homeowners to apply for this. But in the case of this cyclone, we are automatically granting a rates remission during the period people’s properties are officially marked as uninhabitable.

In addition, we are extending the payment date for the current rates payments for all ratepayers, because of the weather-related obstacles to delivering rates notices and the difficulty for people to find ways to make payments with power and road disruptions. The date from which a late-payment penalty will be applied for this instalment is being pushed out from 22 February 2023 to 15 March 2023.

Business Assistance

• IRD’s tax relief for emergency events
• BusinessExtreme Weather Info
• Xero’s Assistance Programme
• First Steps for business community wellbeing support

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