But the council, as part of its annual plan, is proposing to change Best\u2019s property – and 1582 other properties within the council\u2019s boundaries \u2013 to \u201cresidential\u201d.<\/p>\n
If the proposal to remove the \u201crural residential\u201d rates category goes ahead, Best estimates they\u2019ll be paying a 16% increase this year, instead of the forecast average 8.8% increase the council flagged earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would bring my total rate hike for the past three years to 47%,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just like you are forced off the land, when you shouldn\u2019t be forced off the land.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council said its goal was to make its rates fairer.<\/p>\n
Bay View resident Robert Best says finding ways to cut back spending to pay for rates is hard on a fixed income. Photo \/ Linda Hall<\/p>\n
In 2021, the council introduced \u201crural residential\u201d as a transitional ratepayer category in response to feedback from residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, it was agreed to consult in future on whether to use land value or capital value as a basis for rating properties, and that the \u2018rural residential\u2019 ratepayer category would also be considered then.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council said elected members had assessed the benefits rural residential properties received and believed the proposal was a \u201cfairer\u201d way to split the costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome ratepayers will pay more than the average increase of 8.8% and some less,\u201d the council said.<\/p>\n
Best said his home didn\u2019t get the \u201cperks\u201d of ratepayers inside Napier urban boundaries, such as streetlights and footpaths, so he shouldn\u2019t have to pay to subsidise them.<\/p>\n
The council said streetlights, footpaths, cycleways, libraries and pools throughout the city were used by all Napier residents, whether they were rural or urban, and whether those things were outside their own properties or not.<\/p>\n
The council said its total rates consisted of several separate charges. <\/p>\n
Each charge was calculated differently and differentials (weightings) were applied to each ratepayer category.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, commercial ratepayers pay 2.6 times more than residential ratepayers. <\/p>\n
\u201cTargeted rates are applied to a property if it receives or benefits from a service. <\/p>\n
\u201cRural residential ratepayers don\u2019t pay the sewerage, rubbish or recycling targeted rates if they don\u2019t receive these services and this will not change with the removal of the rural residential differential.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council said one of the biggest changes proposed this year was its transportation rate charges, which paid for roading, road safety interventions, footpaths and cycleways.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, these have been included in the general rate and calculated by land value. The proposal is to split the transportation portion out from the general rate and change the way this is calculated to capital value.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means properties with higher capital value will see greater increases than properties with a lower capital value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Best, a retired business owner, says he\u2019s on a fixed income, \u201cand I know we won\u2019t be the only ones, so where do we get the money from?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he couldn\u2019t borrow money at his age, so \u201cwe\u2019ve just got to cut costs again\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the council needed to cut its own costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in business all my life, and if I was the CEO of Napier City Council, I\u2019d be calling every head of department into the office and saying, \u2018right, you\u2019ve got a month to come back and I want a 10% decrease in your spending. If you haven\u2019t, we\u2019ll find someone else that will do it\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what they\u2019ve got to do, but they won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Best has also questioned the council\u2019s rating of his water use.<\/p>\n
He was classed as an \u201cextraordinary\u201d water user, along with commercial, industrial, construction and agricultural users.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are connected to town water and are grateful for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we pay a fixed rate and then if we use more than the allocated amount, we are billed for metered water.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council said lifestyle properties were classified as \u201cextraordinary users\u201d under Napier City Council\u2019s Water Supply Bylaw 2022 because they had the potential to use water beyond typical domestic needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bylaw does not quantify or require proof of higher usage. It is a risk-based classification to manage potential demand and protect the network.\u201d <\/p>\n
Best said when they first moved to Bay View nine years ago, rates were affordable but \u201cman, it\u2019s changed\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said he wants the council to leave them alone.<\/p>\n
Best has submitted to the Annual Plan and put his name down to speak at the council\u2019s submissions hearing.<\/p>\n
The council has received more than 300 submissions, which it says will be considered before any final decision is made.<\/p>\n
Hastings District Council said there were no changes proposed to its rural-residential rating differentials this year.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But the council, as part of its annual plan, is proposing to change Best\u2019s property – and 1582…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9526,682,8834,1972,2199,5205,9881,35964,679,71,1333,42,5345,21325,19720,2845,263,3607,43,1118,2738,17159,7676,15508,211241,3175,312,61,40,38,41,39,9880,14638],"class_list":["post-410595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-another","tag-being","tag-big","tag-block","tag-city","tag-council","tag-facing","tag-feels","tag-forced","tag-from","tag-get","tag-headlines","tag-increase","tag-increases","tag-land","tag-leaving","tag-lifestyle","tag-napier","tag-news","tag-of","tag-owner","tag-proposal","tag-rates","tag-residential","tag-rid","tag-rural","tag-says","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-view","tag-wants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}