The full council is expected to make a final decision on the flood protection and drainage charges at its next meeting on June 22, following the biggest review of Taieri flood protection and drainage funding arrangements since the mid-1990s.
The review of rating for the lower Taieri flood protection scheme and the West and East Taieri drainage schemes sprang from community submissions received on the 2009-19 long-term council community plan.
The review covered certain scheme assets and their ownership, assessed the flood and drainage benefits and considered the existing scheme areas and their associated areas of benefit for rating.
A total of 47 submissions had been received on the proposed amendment - three agreeing with the proposed changes and the remaining 44 submitters opposing either parts or all of the proposals.
Capital value has been retained for the proposed flood protection rating, and urban Mosgiel has been reassessed as gaining less flood protection benefit than previously.
Drainage charges continue to be assessed on an area basis.
At yesterday's council finance and corporate committee meeting, Cr Doug Brown took issue with the proposed rating changes, saying they were creating "huge inequities".
There had been a "massive shift" in costs in some cases, with some landowners facing big rate rises.
The rating review's scope was too narrow, and a wider economic assessment should have been undertaken, Cr Brown said.
However, most other councillors took a different view, and Cr Bryan Scott said that after extensive consultation there was "no surprise" about the rating outcome and the council had to make a decision.
"I think the process we've been through has been a reasonable one," he said.
Cr Michael Deaker discussed a relatively modest level of flood risk in urban Mosgiel, which was reflected in the revised flood rating proposals.
He noted that Mosgiel's early settlers had chosen the township's location wisely, selecting an area of higher ground which was "not going to be very flood-prone" compared with other parts of the Taieri Plain.
Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said such matters were "never an easy decision" but he was "comfortable" with the integrity and robustness of the process which the council had followed.
