Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher welcomes the return of a Ratepayers and Residents Association to the district.

The group was formed last week, after 52 members of the public met at the North Otago Land Search and Rescue rooms on Ōamaru’s Severn St. 

The association is a revisit of the original Waitaki Ratepayers and Concerned Citizens Association, which existed from 2005 to 2015 and lobbied on several issues, including the proposed Forrester Heights development.

Gary said ratepayer groups can be “very helpful” in both improving the system and providing opportunities to share information and understanding of issues.

“I am hopeful that the members of this group will interact well with council and provide positive criticism.”

There is a greater amount of cynicism and distrust around the world following three years of Covid restrictions and mandates, so he would not be surprised if that is reflected in the formation of this group, he said.

On formation of the association, Ōamaru man Ray Henderson was elected chairperson, and a board of eight directors was chosen.  

The association was formed due to a growing level of mistrust about how the Waitaki District Council conducted its business.

Ray said he personally felt not enough information was forthcoming from the council.

“The difficulty for the public to make meaningful submissions when all the facts were not available was clearly apparent,” he said.

He was also “somewhat uneasy” about the level of “real debt” incurred in the last three years. 

“Not just book figures of moving money around.”

He was very pleased with both the number and age range of the people who attended the meeting, and the long-term plan is for monthly meetings, with any new or intending members welcome.

A concern highlighted by the group was the number of council workshops being held behind closed doors, and that it may lead to mistrust.

The association said the council held 68 workshops last year.

Gary said workshops generally provided opportunities to inform the council governance team and to assist them in carrying out their roles. 

“They have also generally been held without public present, simply because they are not decision-making sessions. However, many could easily be open to the public and we are discussing this possibility this week.”

He doubted members of the public who did attend would be “overly entertained” by them.

Concern was also expressed at the meeting about the council's public consultation around contributing up to $15 million for the proposed Waitaki Event Centre.

“The consultation should disclose to the public that council has already gone $38 million into debt for various purposes, and plans to borrow another $12 million in the upcoming year,” a statement from the association said.

Gary said all council budgets are consulted on and debated in public, so there has been a significant amount of information available about why external debt has gone up, and why it is forecast to continue to grow, given all of the new work that has to be carried out, “particularly in the three waters activity”.

“However, it should be acknowledged that there is a similar amount of funds in loans to the community,” he said. 

“There is a false impression being created in the community that our council is performing poorly with its finances. The national picture is very different, with the Waitaki District Council performing very well from a debt perspective.” 

The formation of the new group might be an opportunity to help share that information, Gary said.

The association is planning a public meeting in the near future at which the mayor and councillors will be invited to discuss the proposal to raise rates by an average of 8.06% across the Waitaki. Ōamaru businesses and the district’s farmers face the biggest increases, of 14.18% and 13.11% respectively, Ray said.

Increasing commitments created by central government, and by the high inflation on costs in many of the areas that councils are more active in, such as construction and contracting in particular, is a challenge for all councils, Gary said.

“The past ten years have seen lower than average rate increases for Waitaki, but the challenge still exists in what we can do to keep rates affordable.”

The Ratepayers and Residents Association can be contacted at [email protected].