John Scrimgeour Federated Farmers BOP president

There was some good news for Eastern Bay of Plenty irrigators before Christmas, with strong representation helping to knock back Trustpower's desired minimum flows on the Rangitaiki River.

There's more process to come, but good advocacy does make a difference.
In that vein, a big part of Federated Farmers' work in the early months of 2012 will be advocacy to councils on the perplexing matter of council rates.
Any farmer reading this will know the effect of the rates bill on their books. It is an issue Federated Farmers has had right in front of government for a number of years.

Just before Christmas, our national office reviewed the rates of farmers in our ‘10K Club' – a group of people from around New Zealand with dramatically high rates bills. I am always amazed that a council can commandeer so many thousands of dollars from individuals by simply applying their costs to a property value rate.

The note from one correspondent to the effect that they were relieved their rates had ‘leveled off' at $30,000, on a 150ha coastal farm, was poignant.
Containing the rate burden, let alone reducing it, is not easy.

We are finding also that, as council costs and debt increase, farms are looking increasingly attractive to councils desperate for cash. Whakatane District Council has thought up a new rating system for 2012 that would chew further into farmers' earnings if adopted. Somehow, it is the view of council that the rating system would be cheaper to run if targeted rates, designed to reflect the distribution of benefits, are collapsed into the general rate on capital value.

The cost of council services funded by these targeted rates, such as libraries and the aquatic centre, would increase dramatically for farmers. There is no valid reason for this, especially considering the distances of these facilities from farms.

Added to this, there is a new contribution from farms to urban stormwater costs.

This might add up to a nice political equation in some quarters, but the impact on rural people has certainly escaped the attention of Whakatane District Council, which has offered no consultation on the proposal other than the formal process on their Long Term Plan in March.

Federated Farmers is putting in the hard work to get this big rates transfer to farmers exposed and dealt with. We need the support of all Whakatane farmers if we are to knock it back.