North Shore residents should not have to pay full water rate, says councillor

Public health warning sign at Coxs Bay due to the quality of the water it is not safe to swim there. 18 January 2017 New Zealand Herald Photograph by Dean Purcell.

North Shore councillor Chris Darby is calling for a rethink on a proposed regionwide water rate so it is fairer for residents north of the Harbour Bridge.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has unveiled his proposed 10-year budget today, which includes a targeted rate to improve water quality with a big focus on reducing the amount of sewage pouring into the Waitemata Harbour.

Much of the targeted rate, which will cost $67.60 for the average household, will go toward speeding up a $1 billion-plus giant pipeline to drastically reduce sewage outflows from the central city suburbs into the harbour.

However, the North Shore, in particular, will not receive much benefit from the targeted rate, which rises to $135 a year for a $2 million property and $200 for a $3m property.

Goff yesterday said the targeted rate was aimed at improving the quality of the environment right across the region and it made sense for everyone to contribute to it.

North Shore councillor Chris Darby wants a rethink on the water targeted rate.

Today, Darby said the targeted rate needed to be "nuanced" so the cost falls where the greatest benefits lies.

Darby said former North Shore City residents paid hefty rates increases to address wastewater overflows, saying 95 per cent of beaches had been addressed but significant problems still persisted at northern Takapuna Beach and the Wairau outfall at Milford Beach.

What's more, he said a new safeswim monitoring system showed a lot of wastewater plume was contained on the southern, city side of the Waitemata Harbour but in a southwesterly change the plume shifts to the North Shore coastal edges.

"If we can contain the wastewater spillages on the isthmus it is not going to blow up on the North Shore beaches, Little Shoal Bay, Shoal Bay and the plumes that wash out into the Hauraki Gulf and get blown back with the tides and winds on to the East Coast beaches," he said.

Darby said it was early days in the budget process and looked forward to the council discussing where the costs should fall and how fairly they should fall.