Northlanders To Fork Out $2 Million-plus For Regional Council “Community Good” Rates

Friday, 28 June 2024, 7:47 pm
Article: Susan Botting - Local Democracy Reporter

Te Tai Tokerau ratepayers will be forking out $2.6 million in rates to the Northland Regional Council (NRC) for emergency services and sports facilities from July.

The regional council chose to continue collecting rates for these services after receiving a record 2275 submissions on its Long Term Plan, mostly about its controversial proposal to end these "community good" rates.

NRC became Te Tai Tokerau’s first council to formally adopt its new long term budget in Dargaville on Tuesday (SUBS: June 25). It comes into effect from July 1. 

Northland ratepayers will pay $54.8 million in regional council rates for the coming 2024/2025 year, a rise of almost 16% on 2023/2024.

Their rates will pay $1.1m for emergency services - more than half of which has typically gone to the north’s Whangārei-based rescue helicopter service – and $1.5m to the region’s sporting facilities.

The record number of LTP submissions was 10 times the council’s previous biggest number.

At the time of its LTP 2024-2034 public consultation, NRC said the emergency services and sporting facilities rates would mean an extra roughly 5% rates increase for 2024/2025 rates.

Northland Rescue Helicopter, Surf Life Saving northern region, Hato Hone St John, Coastguard northern region, Northland and Far North search and rescue pllus Far North radio and sea rescue were the recipients of NRC’s $1.11m emergency services funding last year.

The rescue helicopter service received just over half of this money.

NRC chair Geoff Crawford said the regional council was not required by law to collect the two “community good” rates.

But councillors had agreed to continue with both, “acknowledging they’re effectively a form of fundraising and an administrative ‘community good’ service on behalf of the community”.

Crawford said NRC’s 15.94% rates rise for the coming year meant an extra $81.20 per annual rates bill.

The “community good” rates made up $27.65 a year worth of this, he said.

NRC will be working with the core providers that get the emergency services ratepayers’ money “to ensure that alternative funding can be secured via the government and other funders”.

The name of the emergency services rate has been changed to the regional rescue services rate.

Crawford said the LTP was about balance.

“There is hugely important work to be done to care for te taiao (the natural environment) and prepare communities for the long-term effects of climate change and natural hazards and costs have increased significantly for us all,” Crawford said.

New NRC work being funded in the coming decade’s budget includes biosecurity, flood management, climate action and emergency management.

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