It’s been a busy few days out of the Waitaki District Council communications department. Rates are going up, some buildings have had a facelift and then there’s all the water stuff, which, to be honest, though it’s important, is pretty dry.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday (May 27), an average rates increase of 9.79% was approved for the next rateable year, 2025/26, as part of the 2025-34 Long Term Plan. 

The rates will go up again the following year (6.5% on average), but then there will be a drop of about 16% when water charges are separated from the rates in 2027/28 (read more about the water below).

Following that, rates rises remain below 4% for the following seven years.

Mayor Gary Kircher says the process has been “extremely difficult”.

The council has been working on the Long Term Plan for close to two years, juggling different opinions over what priorities are, and amidst increasing affordability challenges in the community.

“A lot of work has gone into reducing cost for the ratepayer,” he says.

“We’ve managed to get it down to 9.79%, which is still more than anyone would like. However, the decisions today set the course for declining rates over this decade, bringing much-needed relief to the community.”

In a more colourful update, three buildings in the Thames Street CBD have a fresh new look...

The first-floor facades on three of the town’s more tired-looking buildings have had a makeover as part of the Central Ōamaru Masterplan. 

The plan includes five community-led projects, created with the purpose of making Ōamaru’s town centre more vibrant (the Moa Trail was another of those projects). 

The three adjacent buildings - Soul, Surf & Skate, Spark, and Morcomm Systems Ltd - have some new colour on their faces, to highlight Ōamaru’s unique architecture while bringing some life back into it.

The three buildings before their colour up. Next on the to-do list is new signage and some TLC for the verandahs. Photo: Supplied

The Facade Renovation project team members who gave up their time are Virginia Barlow (VBA Ltd), Kristina Lowe (McBrimar), and Laura Byars (National Group). They worked with council officers David Campbell, Chloe Searle, and Melanie Jones.

By targeting three side-by-side properties, the team aimed to demonstrate what can be achieved through collaboration, while recognising that at times maintaining and restoring the buildings can be a daunting prospect for individual owners.

Shirley Morris, co-owner of the 1879 Morcomm building designed by Thomas Forrester, says they have wanted to restore the building for some time, but there have always been other priorities.

“Working with the project team has been great. We were able to bounce ideas off each other and collaborate on things like shared scaffolding, which made the work easier and more cost-effective for everyone.”

The building owners all contributed money to the work, with the extra funds coming from the Waitaki Heritage Fund and Government Better Off Funding.

The next stage of this project will include the repair and restoration of the verandahs and installation of new signage.

Meanwhile, we are drowning in water issues…

Council chief executive Alex Parmley has spoken out against misinformation circulating in the form of a piece of writing called 'They Want to Give Away Our Water' by Mike Sweeney.

The document has been circulated on social media, and is about the Southern Water Done Well consultation the council is in the process of carrying out.

The consultation outlines four options for managing Waitaki’s water services:

1. The Southern Water group - A joint council-controlled organisation (CCO) with Clutha, Central Otago and Gore districts (the preferred option);

2. A standalone Waitaki CCO;

3. An in-house business unit;

4. The South Canterbury group - a joint council-controlled organisation with Mackenzie, Timaru and Waimate districts.

None of the options involves the status quo of in-house delivery.

Government reforms require ring-fenced funding, greater transparency, and stronger borrowing capacity to improve water infrastructure and quality, which means change is unavoidable. 

Public consultation ends on June 6, and the council has to submit a water services delivery plan to the Department of Internal Affairs by September 3.

While Mr Parmley says there is an important discussion that needs to take place in the community, and it is fine for people to hold different views on what the best option is, this does not leave space for misinformation.

A screengrab of some of the mistakes highlighted by the council in a publication about the council's water consultation. Photo: Supplied/WDC Facebook page

“We can easily call it misinformation, because anyone reading this document and taking it as fact, would be terribly misinformed,” he says.

“Not just about the current consultation, but the water reforms, the future regulation, council’s finances, and the significant change that is coming to all water services in New Zealand.”

The document makes several unfounded claims and is extremely selective when it comes to information that contradicts the author’s view. It partially quotes source documents rather than using all the information to present a balanced view, he says.

"Throughout the document, council is accused of making ‘false claims, ‘false argument(s)’ and an ‘intense propaganda campaign’.

“It is ironic that we have reviewed the evidence presented and found it fails to engage with facts or reality in a serious manner. This is a shame as it could lead some people to claim the consultation results are not valid as they are based on false information.”

To read the consultation document, visit the Waitaki District Council website and, if you like, have a say. To see a step-by-step analysis of 'They Want to Give Away Our Water', and a breakdown of what the council says it got wrong, visit the website here.

And last but not least, sorry dog owners, but registrations are going up again - some as much as 75%.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, an increase in dog registration and related fees for dog owners in the Waitaki District was agreed on by elected members.

The new 2025/26 fees are $130.50 for a non-working, urban dog (up from $87), $105 for a neutered working dog (up from $70).

A Selected Owner will now pay $61.25 (up from $35), and farm dogs (pets or working) are $39 (up from $26).

There will also be an increase in the first offence impounding of a dog, to $100.

These changes will take effect from July 1.