"The elephant in the room is trust."
That was the sentiment of Featherston resident Theodore Taptiklis after Monday night's rates meeting in Featherston.
South Wairarapa Mayor Alex Beijen was shouted down by ratepayers when he suggested a man complaining about the district's rates increase had a 'simplistic view of what the council does'. Photo: LDR / Emily Ireland
The event was the second of a series of meetings held by South Wairarapa District Council (SWDC) to address the rates miscommunication that has upset ratepayers and left some unable to afford to pay their rates.
In its Long Term Plan (LTP) Consultation Document, published in March, SWDC indicated it needed to collect an extra 17.65 percent in rates this financial year.
This contradicted the LTP itself which stated the rates income for this financial year would be $19,921, an increase of 29.6 per cent on the year prior.
The council has since apologised for the miscommunication and said the difference resulted from the council borrowing $1.5 million last year to give ratepayers a rates holiday amid Covid, while still continuing with its proposed programme of works.
Taptiklis, who has been a South Wairarapa ratepayer for 25 years, said a 29 percent rates increase "in a world of five percent inflation is wild fantasy … it's totally unreasonable".
He said he got a sense of "arrogance and entitlement" from the council's response to the miscommunication and felt the council's proposed remedy was "not good enough".
The council is set to approve a remedy on 17 November, but its preferred option for engagement is to make reductions in costs that do not significantly reduce levels of service, and carry over savings to the next financial year.
"I want my money back now," Taptiklis said.
He said the council was charged by ratepayers to do "a number of straightforward tasks" and said that costs should be easily predictable "on the basis of many years of prior experience".
"Infrastructure costs are easy to deal with if we put aside a little each year."
Mayor Alex Beijen said: "Thank you for a very simplistic view of what the council does," to which the audience reacted with shouts.
"Council services are not static," Beijen said, nor did they run by the consumer price index - "we don't buy cauliflower".
Rather, the big determiners for costs were meeting new standards set by the government, and the increased costs of building, he said.
South Wairarapa ratepayer Daphne Geisler said she found it 'quite condescending' when the council's chief executive, Harry Wilson, offered to 'go over the graph again' to explain the reasons for the rates rise and the miscommunication. Photo: LDR / Emily Ireland
Beijen said the rates increase was necessary to address historic underinvestment in the council's infrastructure and meet new government standards, particularly with water assets.
Regarding the rates miscommunication, ratepayer Jim Hedley believed it could be explained by one of two things: "incompetency" or dishonesty.
He asked which one it was, but no one responded.
Previously, SWDC confirmed it only became aware of the impact of last year's loan on rates rises "around mid-August 2021".
This was after the council signed off on the LTP and rates rise at the end of June.
Ratepayer Daphne Geisler said she was at the 2020 meeting when "a number of ratepayers told [council] about the impact of taking out a loan".
"I think it is a memorable meeting because they called you the town clerk," she said to South Wairarapa District Council chief executive Harry Wilson.
"There was no hint of the loan [impact] in the LTP. You could not have forgotten the loan. It must have taken a lot of effort to not even hint at the loan."
Wilson said he was happy to "go over the graph again" explaining the rates impact and addressing the miscommunication that happened.
Geisler said this was "quite condescending".
Wilson said: "As I said earlier, we should have communicated that better and earlier.
"We're sorry. We should have done a better job informing you. We should have made sure the message got to you. We should have made sure everyone understood the reasons why. We failed to communicate clearly and consistently. We apologise for that."
Another ratepayer asked: "Given the public was misled with an unknown loan impacting the rates increase, what steps are the council taking to regain community trust in financial decisions?"
Wilson said he understood there was a "confidence issue".
"If I was in your shoes I would have the same issue," he said.
The council had discussed three options to remedy the issue and would make a decision on the way forward at a full council meeting on 17 November.
Another rates meeting would be held in Martinborough on Thursday.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.