I have close relatives and friends in Waitaki and spend most of my time there, so I have followed the rates debate closely. Waitaki ratepayers have been told the council must raise rates sharply because it is near its debt ceiling. Council documents tell a different story.
A debt ceiling is the most a council is allowed to borrow. Waitaki District Council is currently over one of its two borrowing limits. But its own long-term plan says, in plain words, that this "will be resolved when the waters-related debt transfers to another entity from 1 July 2027".
The council treasury report, dated June 23, shows how. Council debt is about $90.9 million now. It rises to $128m for a single year. Then, from July 1, 2027, about $87m of water debt moves to the new water company, Southern Waters Ltd, and council debt drops to about $41m, which is then around $100m below its borrowing limit.
Even that $128m peak is unlikely. It assumes the council builds every planned project, yet it has just carried $18m of this year’s $60m capital programme into next year, having delivered only about two-thirds of it.
So the debt problem is real, but it lasts one year and fixes itself in 2027, on the council’s timetable. That is not a reason for a permanent rates increase. If the debt ceiling sorts itself out in 2027, why a permanent rate rise now?
The Waitaki District Council’s response will run in next week’s Oamaru Mail.
LOOK IN THE MIRROR
The protest last Thursday, where Waitaki citizens turned out to express their anger at the proposed rates increase, was impressive.
Although there were several of the usual suspects, it did reflect a wide section of the public.
Yet the elephant in the room was not talked about.
Mayor [Mel] Tavendale, in an interview after the protest, mentioned the burden of councils being saddled with enormous water infrastructure costs accounting for much of the increase.
So while it may be convenient for angry ratepayers to rail at a council passing on the costs, for those who chose to vote for any of the current coalition partners at the last general election, and who bought into the anti-three waters hysteria, they might find someone else to blame by looking in a mirror.
