Two of the most complex of Hamilton City Council’s issues – rates structures and management of water services – will be jointly reviewed, in response to Government direction.

Government’s Local Water Done Well policy requires councils to provide a Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) to Government by mid-2025. The WSDP will detail how councils will deliver drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater (Three Waters) services in the future.

Mayor Paula Southgate says developing a sustainable plan for Hamilton’s water services will be a massive task, but one which is also much needed.

“I won’t sugar-coat it. I have long said that the current way of funding and delivering water services is not sustainable. Like many councils, if we don’t make changes, we face potential risks of future failures in our networks, and huge increases to ratepayers.

“We mustset up our city for success to get the best possible outcome for Hamiltonians and the wider region. This means more efficient, cost-effective outcomes, that also enable usto respond to the needs of our growing city,” said Mayor Southgate.

To inform Council’s approach, staff have been instructed to report back with a breakdown of costs for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater, and provide options for how we fund those costs.

Government has indicated it is favourable towards Council's forming partnerships or Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) to get economies of scale and separate waters costs from councils. New legislation is being developed to make creating these new organisations easier. The Minister has also indicated councils will need to consider volumetric charging.

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“Council is working to identify a preferred alternative to current arrangements by September this year and develop a proposed water services plan by early 2025,” said Mayor Southgate.

"Strong community input is so important to me. We want to hear from Hamiltonians and will be proactively reaching out. Anyformal proposal will go out for public consultation before changes are made.”

Over recent months, the Council has been considering:

• Potential partnerships or shared service arrangements with other councils.
• Whether any new organisation would manage potable (drinking) water, wastewater and stormwater, or would exclude stormwater.
• New legislative requirements from Government including new requirements for economic regulation.
• The tax status of any new organisation and whether it would pay rates.
• Financial impacts for waters operations and for the remaining council business.

The scale and scope of this work means it will likely have impacts on future rating processes and structures, so Council has voted to combine a proposed rates working group with an existing Waters Working Group, as the WSDP is developed.

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