Mayor Weston Kirton was a guest speaker at the Ruapehu Federated Farmers meeting on Sunday (3 May 26) where he discussed rates, roads and future services.

Federated Farmers members were particularly interested in the Annual Plan and why the projected average rates increase of 9 percent could not be reduced further.

Mayor Kirton acknowledged the significant contribution made by the farming sector to the district’s rates base and that farmers do much of the heavy lifting.

“While many councils had rates increases of 15–20 percent in recent years, Ruapehu District Council had committed to an average increase of 9 percent over the first three years of its Long-Term Plan,” he said.

Rising costs for construction, electricity, contractors, depreciation, debt servicing, and KiwiSaver contributions, all largely outside Council’s control, pushed the actual rates requirement to around 15 percent.

To bring that increase back down to our 9 percent commitment, Council needed to make a number of targeted adjustments to planned works and spending.”

Council carefully considered options for reducing rates below the 9 percent target but concluded the risks and future costs outweighed the short-term savings.

“A significant portion of any further reductions would have needed to come from roading which risked network deterioration and could have affected future NZTA funding support,” said Mayor Kirton

“Significantly reducing levels of service would also require a formal amendment to the Long-Term Plan including a full audit process costing around $400,000 which would have defeated the goal of reducing rates.”

Mayor Kirton said Council was currently tracking toward an average rates increase of 8.7 percent, slightly below the 9 percent target.

“That will help ensure Council remains on a sound financial footing heading into the new 2027/37 Long-Term Plan period,” he said.

Mayor Kirton said the next Long-Term Plan would be one of the most significant and consequential the district had faced, particularly given the removal of water services, rates capping, Government’s announcement on council amalgamations, and ongoing financial pressures.

He said elected members and staff had already begun a comprehensive review of Council services, including how services are delivered and the levels at which they are provided.

“Council will need to make some difficult decisions about future services, and those conversations will be challenging for both Council and the community,” he said.

“The reality is that we have too much infrastructure for the size of our rating base.”

One issue discussed with Federated Farmers members was the possibility of ending maintenance on rural roads and bridges that primarily service uninhabited forestry blocks or only a very small number of properties.

“With such an extensive roading network, there are kilometres of low-use gravel roads and isolated bridges where reducing or stopping maintenance could potentially save ratepayers significant amounts of money,” said Mayor Kirton.

Mayor Kirton said the community would have the opportunity to provide feedback on these and other potential service changes as part of engagement on the 2027/37 Long-Term Plan.

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