Information provided to Raglan 23 by the Waikato District Council shows that Raglan section owners will face a rates increase of 8% from what they were paying in 2012. (Increase of 8.19% for a $100k property and 7.51% for a $200k property.) Earlier information provided by the Council showed that this year’s rate increase would be 1.87%, but it seems that this increase was only for a small part of the total rates bill.
To come up with the low 1.87% rate increase, the Council had not included:
- the UAGC rate,
- the water rate,
- the stormwater rate,
- the water rate,
- the refuse rate,
- the community facilities rate,
- the community board rate.
Most home owners will have a total rate increase of about 6.5% ($171) for properties with a value from $300k to $500k. With annual inflation running at just 0.7%, this means many property owners will face an increase in Waikato District rates of nine times the cost of living index. This is way above Government recommendations for Councils.
While higher value properties will receive smaller increases ranging from 4.89% to 5.80%, the dollar increase will be larger ranging from $180 to close to $200. (Increase of $179.79 for a $600k property and an increase of $197.31 for a million dollar property.
And a recent poll on Raglan 23, indicates that Raglandic folk don’t believe they get good value for their rates dollars. Asked a question about how well the Waikato District Council delivers value for money to Raglan, 20 of the 26 people (76%) who completed the poll rated the Council as Poor or Only Fair. Compared to other Councils this is an extremely weak result, indicating that for some ratepayers, WDC has room for improvement. Unfortunately the latest round of rate increases is likely to drive perceptions of value for money down even further.
Full survey results:
Its local body election year, a good time to check on Waikato District Council. How would you rate them on delivering value for money to Raglan?
- Poor – 7 Votes
- Only Fair – 13 Votes
- Good – 3 Votes
- Very Good – 2 Votes
- Excellent – 1 Vote
Total Voters: 26
and it comes after years of rate rises well above CPI. It must be a reflection of our failure to publicise what’s going on, that only 7, out of about 1,000 ratepayers, think WDC offers poor value for money.
Probably people have come to look on WDC’s rate increases as something that happens every winter along with shorter and colder days. And there is nothing they can do about them. I don’t believe that, but Raglan Community Board hasn’t had great support from the community in its attempts at getting rates increases reduced.