Stockwater users face huge fee hike

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

The cost for council stockwater services in Mid Canterbury could more than double.

The minimum charge for Ashburton District Council’s stockwater is proposed to increase from $260 to $700.

The cost increase will be part of a wider revenue and financing policy consultation process coinciding with the draft long-term plan, in which the council proposes to end delivering stockwater by June 2027.

Councillor Russell Ellis was concerned about the message the proposed increase could be sending.

“I wonder if there is a perceived risk to council going out with this increase to $700 at the same time we are going out with the stockwater closure in three years’ time, for people saying we are trying to influence that decision by doing this as well.”

But councillor Richard Wilson said the proposed increase would only help encourage stockwater users to start seriously considering alternate delivery options sooner.

“It will bring out where we are trying to head with stockwater.

“This will focus their minds and should help with our process.”

The targeted rate is based on the race length crossing or adjoining a property and is used to fund race maintenance.

A declining number of contributors means that the stockwater budget, which exceeds $1m, is being divided between fewer ratepayers over time and making the current approach unsustainable, the council report stated.

The solution is for the remaining users to pay more.

The minimum charge for race lengths up to 246m is proposed to more than double by increasing to $700.

The increase would also reduce the per metre charge for the races over the 246m.

The other options are to increase the charge to $500, increase it to $700 by 2025-26 – making consecutive $220 increases, or keep the status quo.

The council previously consulted on increasing the minimum charge to $600 in 2021.

The majority of the 105 submissions supported the status quo and the council decided to only increase the minimum charge by $50 each year for the first three years of the 2021-31 long-term plan.

Since 2021, there has been a reduction of 25% in stockwater ratepayers and a 20% reduction in network length, senior policy adviser Richard Mabon said.

It was unclear if the reductions were driven by the $50 increases or other factors, Mabon said.

Volumetric charging is not an option as the council is not able to gauge what each property uses.

Stockwater is part-funded from the general rate due to the community-wide benefit aspects, and in 2023-24 it was 7.5% of the total funding.

It is proposed to increase to be between 10% and 20%.