It was to complement his Gisborne railbike adventure — for which he pays no rates to the Gisborne District Council — which takes riders on a one-hour return journey through rural country, past vineyards and across the Waipaoa Bridge or a 32-kilometre, half-day return journey to explore coastal views and tunnels along the East Coast.
Mr Main said his initial lease was for 48km of track in Wairoa council territory. However, 28km between Wairoa and Nūhaka was unusable because of issues with dogs, metal and electric fences across the track.
He lost a further four kilometres after a storm afer Cyclone Gabrielle severely damaged the track between Nūhaka and Opoutama, which left him with 16km of usable track.
In December, Mr Main put the opening on hold again after realising he had a $29,759 bill for rates that had accumulated over the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years.
The bill, paid by KiwiRail to the council and then passed on to him to pay them, was for his lease of the rail line and surrounding land for a tourist venture in Wairoa District Council territory.
Mr Main said he had made the initial checks when the land came up for public tender in 2015 and had a phone call with a KiwiRail employee about the possibility of rates charges before signing the lease in 2018.
He says the employee told him there were no rates to pay on the land.
Mr Main said he assumed that would continue and did not feel at the time he had to ask the council about it before proceeding.
The Māhia region was desperate for tourism, he said, but with the amount that he now owed — and the likelihood of $10,000-plus-a-year rates bills into the foreseeable future — it would be a challenge to run Railbike Adventures in Mahia.
Mr Main submitted to Wairoa District Council for a rates remission in December, but received a response in January saying it wasn’t possible.
In an email sent to the council on January 23, a furious Mr Main said the rates demand was “extortionate” and he was frustrated at the decision.
He noted Gisborne District Council hadn’t charged him rates and said that Awakeri Rail Adventures in Whakatāne was charged $800 a year for its use of 11km of track.
Wairoa District Council responded to say he would likely be charged an annual rate of $11,516 to use 16km of the track should his lease continue.
Mr Main said he had worked for years to restore and maintain the 16km stretch of the railway line that he would use from Māhia.
Land on either side of the railway track was valued at a commercial rate, rather than a rural rate, despite the fact it was poorly maintained and unable to be used for commercial purposes, he said.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said land used to operate a railway was non-rateable, but land used for other purposes such as the Railbike Adventures was rateable.
“The council is supportive of Railbike Adventures and wants this business to succeed,” Mr Little said.
“However, it needs to be noted that KiwiRail, in leasing the land to a commercial business, becomes responsible for recovering the rates.”
Wairoa District Council said it had applied the same rating legislation for this business as it would for any other business leasing railway land as per the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.
The rates were activated as soon as the lease between KiwiRail and the leaseholder began and there was a delay before the information reached the valuation service provider and then the council’s rating system.
A KiwiRail spokesperson said KiwiRail had paid the rates due on the land for 2021 and 2022 to Wairoa District Council.
Under the Local Government Rating Act, the land the tenant occupies is rateable and rates are recoverable as part of the lease agreement that is in place.
“KiwiRail has not made any decisions on what will happen to the stretch of line.”
Mr Main was to meet with Wairoa District Council today.
If the council were not prepared to strike a reasonable rates charge, he said he would have to consider terminating the lease with KiwiRail for the line within the Wairoa area.
Mr Main said other such leases around the country were “nothing like this rate”.
“We’re saying to Wairoa, do you want business in your town or not?”
Mr Main pointed out that they were “extremely happy” with the business operations with the Gisborne District Council area.
Railbike Adventures was among the top tourist destinations for Gisborne, he said.
— Additional reporting by The Gisborne Herald
