Make your own submission, it only takes a few minutes and you don’t need to complete it all, just the part on Water if you like. You can submit your views by clicking here.
Submissions close Monday 22nd March at noon so please give it a go now if you can.
Whilst your submission is up to you, we ask you to consider supporting the general one-off rates increase AND the continuation of the targeted water rate and increase. This would ensure that critical work for water health can go ahead as soon as possible. We can’t put a price on the health of our water.
If you seek more information Councillor Desley Simpson has outlined the various funding options below.
A Water Quality Targeted Rate (WQTR) extension and increase.
The proposed extension to the WQTR for a further three years (until 2031) will generate an additional $150m and enables work on the Eastern Isthmus Programme and the Manukau Harbour to be scheduled in 2028/2029.
The proposed extension along with an increase to the WQTR in line with the general rates increase (one-off 5 per cent increase in year one) will generate a further $106m and enable work on the Eastern Isthmus Programme and the Manukau Harbour to be fast-tracked by 6 years, starting in 2022.
The proposed extension and increase also enables further water quality improvement work to happen around the region, in every local board area.
Works include:
- Funding additional litter trap projects to improve freshwater and coastal water quality through contaminant removal across the entire region.
- Safe networks programme to investigate and eliminate sources of wastewater contamination in the stormwater network.
- Stream restoration projects.
These proposals would provide a total of $256 million over 10 years.
Under the extension and increase proposal, the increase for the average value residential property ($1,083,500) of the WQTR would be $3.30 (0.12 per cent on total rates) up from approx. $66 to $69.
General rates proposal one-off 5% increase in year one and then dropping down to 3.5% relative to water supply and wastewater.
Under the proposed one-off 5% increase in year one there is an additional $145million for investment in this area.
This additional funding would provide for:
- Increase 50 per cent of planned local network pipe renewals with a focus on central Auckland.
- Increase growth investment (around 80 per cent of the optimal growth programme).
- Continue leak detection.
- Design work on the Huia water treatment plant.
Without the additional funding we would face the following implications:
- Almost all planned local network pipe renewals would be deferred, increasing the risk of asset failures and water lost through leaks.
- Water infrastructure does not keep up with new residential growth areas.
- Water supply resilience would be reduced.
- Energy neutrality initiatives would be delayed, impacting on the council group’s implementation of Te Tāruke-āTāwhiri: Auckland’s Climate Plan.
General rates proposal one-off 5% increase in year one and then dropping down to 3.5% relative to stormwater.
Under the proposed one-off 5% increase there is an addition $54million for investment in this area.
This additional funding would provide for:
- Faster progress on growth, renewal and flooding projects, such as the Corban Reserve upgrade, Awakeri Stage 2, Bracken and Tennyson Avenue, Totara Vale Drive and the renewal of Point England outfalls.
- Emergency works, to respond quickly to sudden asset failures caused by adverse weather such as flooding, slips and sinkholes without affecting other planned investment.
Without the additional funding, we would face the following issues.
- Deferral of growth and flood protection programmes and some renewal projects.
- Limiting our ability to respond quickly to adverse weather events. Other planned investment may need to be reprioritised in the event of an emergency.
The overall proposed increase of 5% in the general rate for year one and 5% for the WQTR in year one (along with a small increase for waste) would equate to a $150 increase on this year’s rates bill for the average value residential ratepayer.
You can submit your views by clicking here. Please get those in before midday this Monday 22 March 2021 and thank you in advance for taking the time to share your voice on this important issue.