Road funding faces NZTA cut

COSTLY ROAD: Cape Palliser Rd has had a lot of work done to it and may lose funding from the NZTA. PHOTO/FILE.

Funding for Cape Palliser Rd is likely be cut by 50 per cent which may mean ratepayers across South Wairarapa will have to stump up.

If the funding from the NZ Transport Agency is reduced, South Wairarapa District Council will have to come up with an extra $175,841. This could lead to a possible 1.8 per cent increase in rate take across the district.

"If we have to find that money without making the cost savings elsewhere, we will have to [increase the rate take]," said Adrienne Staples, mayor of South Wairarapa.

She said the special purpose road is currently funded 100 per cent by NZTA but the agency is undergoing a review of how much it contributes to roading across NZ. It is proposing that special purpose roads receive the same funding assistance as all other local roads.

Mrs Staples said it was highly unlikely the NZTA would stay with the current assistance rate.

At a council meeting yesterday, she said the agency didn't have as much money as it used to.

"There's a huge gap in funding.

"They are $300 million down in income from petrol tax and excise duty."

Emergency funding for roads that are damaged by storms or flood may also be cut significantly by the NZTA.

Over the past few years several million dollars has been spent on preventative maintenance such as the rock walls, gabion baskets and recently the concrete section over the blow hole.

Mark Allingham, the council's group manager infrastructure services, said NZTA would now decide on how much to contribute to work on a case-by-case basis rather than giving a set rate.

"We can apply for extra money which will be given to us at a 50 per cent or higher rate.

"Any emergency goes through a cost benefit analysis.

"It really depends on what money is in the coffers when we apply."

Councillor Viv Napier said it was a huge risk to council.

"I want to be kept very much up to date with how this is going and if we need to lobby to whoever."

The remainder of council's local roads cost $2,801,741 and is subsidised via the $1,389,511 from the NZTA.

Council would need an increase in its funding assistance rate from its current 49 per cent to 55.3 per cent to equal the loss of the special purpose road funding.

In the Greater Wellington Regional Council's original submission to NZTA about the review, which the three Wairarapa councils supported, it said an increase in rates of 1 per cent is equivalent to around $100,000 in South Wairarapa.

"Given that roading expenditure makes up a significant proportion of total expenditure in rural areas such as South Wairarapa, even a minor change in the funding assistance rate for these organisations will be significant."

The changes would take place in a year and a half and the 50 per cent rate would be phased in.