Small but meaningful could sum up the Central Otago District Council's district rate decrease approved yesterday.
For the first time in almost a decade, the council plans to cut the amount it will rate for district activities in the coming financial year, collecting 0.4% less than for the current year.
"I don't ever recall us doing that before in my time on the council - having a reduction in the district part of the rates," deputy mayor and finance committee chairman Neil Gillespie said.
He is in his fourth term as a councillor.
The district component will be added to the ward portion of the rates to make up the total rates bill.
The Vincent Community Board has already approved a ward rate increase of 2.8%, Cromwell came up with a 8.3% ward rates increase and Maniototo settled on a 5% rise.
Roxburgh will hold a special meeting on March 15 to determine the ward rate take for that area.
Councillors spent almost seven hours yesterday going through the estimates for projects and services levied across the entire district.
It was the first meeting for new councillor Jeff Hill, of Alexandra, who won a by-election for one of the two Earnscleugh-Manuherikia seats on the council.
Fees and charges were also set for various services, with councillors deciding against increasing the transfer station charge to dump greenwaste or cleanfill.
Increases were proposed but the council opted to keep the status quo - $7.50 or $15 for greenwaste or cleanfill, depending on the volume.
Waste minimisation officer Sophie Mander said the proposed increases reflected the actual cost of the service, which the council had agreed should be "user pays".
Cr John Lane, of Roxburgh, was concerned further rises in transfer station charges would result in rubbish and greenwaste being dumped around the area rather than being taken to the transfer station.
"That's what's happened in Roxburgh, and I think it's directly attributable to the costs going up last time."
Ms Mander said while there had been a slight rise in incidents of rubbish being dumped away from the transfer stations, there was no "outrageous spike" in the number of cases.
