Mel Tavendale. PHOTO: ODT FILES A petition has been launched and a rally planned as Waitaki residents push back on a planned 22% rates rise. The protest action follows a packed-out community meeting at the Brydone Hotel, in Oamaru, on Wednesday evening. Waitaki district councillors approved the 22% rise at a meeting last month, and rates are due to be set at a June 30 extraordinary council meeting when the annual plan is also adopted. Protest organisers said a petition calling for the 22% rates rise to be scrapped and replaced by a 7% increase would be presented to the mayor and chief executive on the steps of the council building during a ‘‘peaceful’’ rally on June 25, to begin at Takaro Park, Severn St. However, Waitaki District Mayor Mel Tavendale said the council would not be able to set a budget if councillors varied the rates on June 30. She further raised the spectre of government involvement if the council did not stay its present course. ‘‘The implications on not setting a budget are huge for council and this community — and will involve ministerial intervention.’’ Keith Marshall. PHOTO: ODT FILES The guest speaker at Wednesday’s public meeting, former council boss Keith Marshall, urged those gathered in the hotel’s Moeraki Room to get in touch with councillors to ‘‘politely’’ let them know the rates rise was not affordable. The former Oamaru Hospital chief executive has also had top roles with four local councils across both the North and South Islands, including as chief executive of the Nelson City Council. Following the meeting, Mr Marshall told Allied Media: ‘‘It’s not affordable to the community and it will have a hugely adverse impact on the community.’’ That is what residents were responding to when they turned up in such numbers on Wednesday, he said. ‘‘I’m not sure councillors are taking account of the harm it is going to cause to people.’’ Mr Marshall said there would be a knock-on impact for businesses, as higher rates bills would mean residents had less money to spend in the district. He also said the changes would disproportionately impact the farming community, in comments echoing those made recently by Federated Farmers North Otago president Otto Dogterom. Mrs Tavendale said in a social media post on Wednesday she welcomed conversation and would be pleased to receive any recommendations or proposals that emerged from the meeting. But she said a 7% rise was neither viable or ‘‘fiscally responsible’’. In response to questions from this newspaper, Mrs Tavendale said councillors ‘‘absolutely understand the pressure this rise is placing on the community’’. ‘‘We are disappointed in the situation we have arrived at, but we have made the best decision in the interests of our Waitaki people. ‘‘The best avenue for us all to prevent finding us in this situation again, is to come together and not attack each other as we work through the government’s Simplifying Local Government reforms. ‘‘We want to arrive at the best outcome for all Waitaki communities and leave a legacy for our future generations which is sustainable and affordable. ‘‘We need to do this together.’’ Empty buckets outside properties and bumper stickers reading ‘‘no to 22% rates increase: The bucket is empty’’ have also started appearing across the district in protest at the rates rise.
