The Rotorua Night Market and how to pay for Lake Tarawera's new sewerage pipe will be highlighted in annual plan consultation. Composite photo / NZME
Should Rotorua ratepayers pay more so Tarawera homeowners can pay less for a sewerage scheme? And should the popular Rotorua Night Market move to save money?
These are two of the topics Rotorua Lakes Council wants to highlight for public feedback when it consults on its next annual plan, councillors agreed on Wednesday.
The meeting heard that the draft rates rise for the 2025/26 year was 7.95%, down from the 9.8% projected last year in the long-term plan 2024-34.
That was despite Tarawera Sewerage Scheme cost estimates rising from $29 million to $31-32m amid ongoing protests and construction delays at Lake Rotokākahi.
The scheme would connect about 450 Tarawera households, and about 100 future households, to the town sewerage system. It aimed to improve the lake’s water quality.
It is partially funded by the Ministry for the Environment, Rotorua Lakes Council, and Bay of Plenty Regional Council - together about $10.7m - and the rest by Tarawera ratepayers.
The lake’s residents have long decried the cost to them, with the most recent indication being $38,000 to $41,700 (GST exclusive) per household if paid off in one go.
Some have called for this to be capped at $36,600 (GST inclusive) while others want it lower still.
Three options for scheme funding would be included for consultation, and the staff recommendation was that the status quo be the default.
The second option was increasing the Lakes Enhancement Rate 0.1% for 25 years, adding $1m to the scheme, adding $2.80 per year to general ratepayer bills (except for those in Waikato), and knocking $1818 off Tarawera homeowners’ scheme costs.
Option three added $4m by increasing the Lakes Enhancement Rate by $11.20 for 25 years, reducing each Tarawera payment by about $7200.
Councillor Sandra Kai Fong wanted the consultation document to make clear the wider community was already contributing $2700 per Tarawera household, raised last year from $1500.
Organisational performance and innovation group manager Thomas Collé, following a question from councillor Conan O’Brien, said targeted rates would be amended if any further funding was found after this year, with anyone who paid in a lump sum being fairly paid.
In response to questions from Councillor Don Paterson, chief executive Andrew Moraes said Bay of Plenty Regional Council will attend a meeting next week to speak on how it was lowering Rotorua’s targeted rate.
It had suggested the district council raise its Lake Enhancement Rate as a kind of rates swap.
Another topic for consultation was whether the Rotorua Night Market, held on Tutanekai Street, should move, become seasonal, or have someone else run it.
The market was first held in March 2010 and was intended to grow activity in the city centre.
It started with 24 stall holders and now averages more than 65 stalls each week during the peak summer season.
The market costs the council about $200,000 to operate a year.
Options to move the market to a different location could save about $25,000 a year, while operating it only over the six warmer months of the year could save it about $101,000.
If the council had an external provider and sponsored it $80,000, it could save about $122,000.
Kai Fong wanted the consultation document to ask the community more broad questions relating to the rates rise and where people might see further cost savings and efficiencies.
Councillors Karen Barker and Paterson commented similarly.
O’Brien described this as “floaty, ‘let’s hold hands and sing Kumbaya’ crap'”.
“No, come on, we gave an endorsement [in the long-term plan] last year. If you’ve got specifics come up with them, otherwise let’s just get this done. Otherwise, the voters will let us know in October yay or nay.”
Mayor Tania Tapsell said the topics were limited because the council “went so hard in the long-term plan” and received strong feedback from cost-saving measures in the annual plan before that.
“What I think we should be asking is, ‘what is your priority?’, because we can’t do it all.”
Collé said there will be a question on rates and Moraes said there was always one for general feedback and it would look at what it could do cost-effectively.
Public consultation relating to Local Water Done Well and the Rotorua Airport business park proposal will happen at the same time as the annual plan.
The draft consultation document will be voted on for approval at a March 26 meeting.
Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist since 2019.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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