Rates rise will hit thousands, says Samuels

• Published date: 16 April 2024
• Publication title: Northland Age, The

Samuels, a veteran local body and government politician, said there was no way ratepayers of the Far North would be able to bear the proposed FNDC rates rise for 2024/2025

“The proposal to strike a rate increase of 16.5 per cent is unthinkable considering the acute hardship and cost of living crisis that is facing our community at present,” Samuels said.

“Yes, the mayor might say the pending three-year Long Term Plan is a catch-up, but thousands of people across the Far North are already struggling to put food on the table.

“They can’t afford such a rates rise.”

Samuels said the proposed rates rise would become the defining moment of Far North Mayor Moko Tepania’s first term.

He had been elected as the youngest and first Māori Far North mayor, along with a new council, to much fanfare and a sense of great hope in October 2022.

Samuels said that time of hongi and great celebration offered by the election had now passed.

The mayor and councillors would be judged for their performance 18 months down the track, in setting its 2024/2025 rates, Samuels said.

In response, Tepania said the council had faced major challenges since its 2022 election.

“Although our council is 18 months into our term, we have been dealing with ex-tropical Cyclone Hale, Cyclone Gabrielle and a multitude of severe weather events that have left our communities and our infrastructure in far worse shape than when we were elected.

“The proposed 16.5 per cent rates increase for the Far North is a figure we have been working hard to decrease while enabling our current levels of service to continue.

“That’s alongside the need to ‘catch-up’ on outstanding infrastructure deficits and storm-related damage,” he said.

However, Samuels said Far North District Council (FNDC) needed to realise it was not business as usual as the region faced escalating poverty.

“I’ve never seen things like this before,” Samuels said.

FNDC councillors needed to be realistic.

“Perhaps it’s time that all the people of the Far North pay for the services provided by the council...