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Legal Advice Prompts Another Round Of Consultation
South Wairarapa District Council will again consult on its rating remission policy after receiving legal advice that last year’s consultation was not clear enough regarding separately used dwellings on a single property.
After hearing concerns from the public on the matter during the recent Enhanced Annual Plan consultation, the council added criteria to its remission policy to provide relief to ratepayers with more than one dwelling on their property in certain circumstances so that they weren’t unfairly penalised.
The remission criteria included farming properties where the residential buildings were uninhabitable, or empty, or occupied by workers essential to the operation of the pastoral/dairying business, and for retail buildings operated by, and residential buildings occupied by, the ratepayer.
At an extraordinary meeting yesterday, chief executive Janice Smith said the council had received legal advice saying last year’s rating review consultation lacked clarity on the matter and would need to consult again, despite addressing concerns by changing the policy amid the Enhanced Annual Plan process.
Councillor Alistair Plimmer said consulting again seemed “completely and utterly pointless” and was “bureaucratic nonsense”.
He said the council had heard what the public had to say about its remissions policy twice now and that changes had been made to address concerns.
“I understand why we have to do it but it is just silly,” he said.
“We’re elected to make decisions for God’s sake. We’ve heard from the public. How many times do we need to consult?”
Council chief executive Janice Smith said local authorities needed to follow strict consultation guidelines under the Local Government Act before adopting rates remission policies and that there was “potentially not enough information” regarding separate dwellings in last year’s consultation.
The new consultation documents said that as part of the rating review done last year, SWDC decided to move to a charge per Separately Used or Inhabitable Part (SUIP) for several fixed charges.
“A decision was taken to combine all remission policies into one policy, and in doing that, council’s intention to adopt a policy to provide remission of the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC) and Uniform Targeted Rates in certain circumstances was not as clear as it could have been.
“As the basis of the policy was not included in the Remission of Rates policy in its final format opened or unopened for public consultation, council has decided to consult separately on a Remission of UAGC and Uniform Targeted Rates for SUIP policies.”
Consultation would run from July 22 to August 5.
Feedback forms will be available on the council’s website and at the three South Wairarapa libraries and council office in Martinborough.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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