Mangawhai Matters: KDC consulting a sham

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The headline screams out from Kaipara District Coucil’s (KDC) Kaipara Korero PR sheet: ‘Council Responds to Community Submissions in Long Term Plan decisions’. We should thus feel quietly confident after more than 200 people (including Mangawhai Matters Society) gave their feedback on new LTP initiatives proposed for the next decade, that there will be some welcome amendments and additions. Unfortunately, there is nothing but disappointment.

 

The new library proposal
It was proposed that a site be secured and that a new library be built for Mangawhai. We were only given Mangawhai Central or Mangawhai Village as options.

Council reported that 55 per cent of people opposed a new library site based on cost. Mangawhai’s two councillors, Peter Wethey and Jonathan Larsen, proposed siting a new library, along with a civic precinct, on council land adjacent to the Club in the newly cleared space above Mangawhai park. Mangawhai Matters and others supported this.

Despite this there was no support for what our councillors proposed. The decision: Staff should proceed with work to secure a site for a future library in Mangawhai, recognising that land will become increasingly scarce. But the community already owns perfectly suitable land and the significant cost savings are better spent elsewhere?

 

The Regional Growth Fund
This proposal was to join Northland Regional Council as a shareholder in a new Regional Growth Fund that would be aimed at attracting more business and employment into Northland. A total of 53 per cent of submitters were against the proposal to become a shareholder in the fund that might or might not even invest our contribution locally. The use of our money would be better controlled and invested locally as our communities need it. Council just went ahead anyway, committing us to $180,000 in year six of the 10 year plan. Interesting that Whangarei District Council rejected the proposal. You could ask why KDC bothered to get ratepayer feedback.

 

Recycling crates
Ratepayers would pay a special rate of up to $160 per year for recycling crates to replace the current recycling bags. Mangawhai Matters was concerned about crate over-spill (especially during holiday periods) and crates littering the streets between collections because of the large transient Mangawhai population.

KDC says 77 per cent of respondents supported crates but 23 per cent opposed a new targeted rate as many ratepayers would struggle to meet the additional cost and the impracticality of crates-only for Mangawhai.

KDC will implement the scheme but use the next 12 months to plan to review the issues raised. We don’t want a crate-only option as this is the only way streets won’t be littered with empty crates, plastic and glass, especially over summer.

 

Sewer scheme
KDC’s Long Term Plan continues to show hangover EcoCare debt of $38 million, with $28 million “being paid off through growth by development contributions.”

We asked for KDC to follow Local Government Act good practice and charge development contributions at the time of subdivision approval and not when lots are formed. Early rather than delayed payments. We can’t see KDC has agreed to this. Yet one of the ‘Risks’ identified in its new Long Term Plan document says that “if the cost of debt is used to fund the additional assets needed (i.e. sewer assets) and growth doesn’t occur as planned, then the cost will fall disproportionately on the existing ratepayers. This is because much of the growth costs are not solely attributable to future properties, and the general ratepayers pay part of the future interest cost on the Mangawhai Wastewater Treatment Plant.”

The new LTP document shows that 50 per cent of the cost of interest on expanding the Mangawhai Community Waste Water Scheme will be funded through rates. This finally confirms our fears that ratepayers will be footing much of the bill for Mangawhai Central’s need for sewer plant expansion.

 

Rate increases
Pre-consultation, the proposed rate increase was to be 4.16 per cent in year one of the Plan (2021/2022 rating year) dropping to 3.42 per cent in year two of the Plan ( 2022/2023).

The public consultation document gave some estimates of the cost of individual add-ons such as increased expenditure on climate change, buying land for a new Mangawhai library and joining the new Regional Growth Fund. But it comes as a shock to see that all the new additions approved will mean an overall rate increase of 5.1 per cent in 2021/2022 and a huge 7.13 per cent in 2022/2023.

KDC is required to consult but clearly not obliged to take any notice of what its residents want.

 

n Want to join the Mangawhai Matters Society Inc. as a member and have a say? It’s only $20 per family per year. Please make deposits to 01-0204-0160241-00. Following your payment please email us at mangawhaimatters@gmail.com giving us your name, phone, and address so we can keep in touch.

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