Matata sewerage subsidised

Whakatane District Council have taken issue with the evidence presented to the Environment Court regarding the Matata sewerage scheme.

In an appeal currently being heard at Mount Maunganui, Sustainable Matata secretary Neville Harris has suggested WDC is planning to use Matata residents' rates to pay for other projects.


Whakatane District Council's offices. Photo: File.

But speaking exclusively to SunLive, WDC communications manager Ross Boreham responded by saying: 'That's just complete cobblers, not to put too fine a point on it.”

Neville claims that the Matata scheme will be used to entrap current rate payers into contributing towards sewerage plans in Edgecumbe and Ohope.

However, in a direct response, Ross says: 'Ohope is virtually complete in terms of the requirements for the resource consent and it doesn't require any significant changes.

'Nothing has a major impact on sewerage charges which are uniform across the district with the exception of Murupara. There will be significant work required for Edgecumbe in the middle of the next decade.”

Edgecumbe currently discharges treated wastewater into the Omehu Canal, and it remains uncertain if that will continue.

The treatment system has to be upgraded and how the treated Edgecumbe effluence is disposed of in future will then have to be considered based on that.

There are 11,000 sewer connections across the district. The Matata scheme as it stands will add about 270 connections. The extra 70 from the motorcamp are being paid for by the Department of Conservation.

'The 11,000 connections across the district contribute to any costs and Matata's contribution is tiny,” says Ross.

'Connections throughout the Whakatane District are paying the lion's share of the cost of the Matata scheme. That will see their rates go down considerably before the system starts up, so in effect Matata ratepayers will be paying less.”

Matata ratepayers have been paying a stormwater rate levied to meet the costs of the 2005 debris flow. In the long-term plan going before WDC in March before going out for public consultation, proposals suggest that stormwater rate be moved to the general rate for the entire district.

'It has significant implications for Matata in terms of rates decreases,” he adds. 'In effect their rates will decrease more than the cost of their connection to the sewage treatment system. So we think it is affordable and it is sustainable.

'I think essentially the on-site sewerage systems Matata has at the moment in many areas are completely inadequate, and if we don't have a sewerage system for the town then many residents will be faced with very significant costs to get their on-site systems up to standard.”

Some areas of Matata will be unable to upgrade because they are in low-lying areas where the drainage is just not good enough for an onsite system to be effective.

Ross adds: 'As it stands, there's high levels of pollution in the water ways in the town, and while they're not an immediate health issue, it's certainly not something you would want to continue to ignore.”

The $196.45 Neville mentions is the current cost per sewer connection across the district.

The $55 plus GST is the extra cost for all of the people that are currently connected. That's what they will pay to help fund Matata's system, says Ross.

'So in effect all 11,000 connections across the district are making that contribution so that Matata has an affordable system,” he explains.

'The cost for connections proposed though 2015/16 is $229 plus GST. That's an annual charge. So obviously that varies from year-to-year depending on what costs are being faced to maintain the system and operate it across the district.

'The $55 that he (Neville) refers to is the increment existing connections will face to fund the Matata system as their share of it when it starts up.

'It's way too early to determine exactly what the costs will be because that will depend on what the final costs of construction is.

'The longer this business goes on, the more that's likely to be.”

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2 comments

Wisechief

Posted on 30-01-2015 07:58 | By Wise Chief

What a load of drivel from Ross Boreham as he well knows burden will fall upon those with fixed income & local Maori owners who always bear the greatest burden & loss of land as has always been the case when such works have been done throughout this country. Show us facts otherwise if any. Regional Council are an arm of Crown engaged in commandeering of land & other assets from the local Maori owners via any and all imposed means. Maori families in Parish of Matata have had much land taken by the government & councils for roads, rail & had their harbour closed which brought economic ruin and forced many to leave & now final nail in the coffin via massive ongoing debt which will force the few who remain out. This tactic used to great effect in Auckland where many parks public places were taken.


Wisechief

Posted on 30-01-2015 08:37 | By Wise Chief

Readers might like to read article in Herald about the issue of those on fixed income's who are having difficulty paying their rates as has occurred constantly with Maori around the BOP and often without their knowledge whereupon their lands have been taken. Many were so poor they could not afford a lawyer even to fight back. Again it is those who make these decisions over them while well knowing the real intend is to open the way for property developers, and very rapid increases in the price of land and properties which will occur upon the sewerage being put in. This is the usual Modus Operandi and all to bring about a loss or lands and income for the local Maori owners who are the direct descendants of the DISCOVERERS and yet they are not allowed a say over their own lands. Apartheid anyone.


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