Federated Farmers will again highlight the Central Hawke's Bay District Council's inequitable roading rate in its submission to the Long Term Plan.
CHB ratepayers are lumbered with a rate that disproportionately hammers farmers, as it has no differentials and is struck on land value.
A medium-value farm in the district will contribute $4212 towards roading. The farmer certainly does not receive a corresponding value for that money, especially when compared with an urban Waipukurau ratepayer's $207.
One of our members will be contributing a whopping $27,000 towards the roading rate alone this year. That's a lot of days out working for the council, let alone the taxman.
Since 2015, the amount of unsealed roads in CHB has reduced from 403km to 401km, so all that money is going towards maintenance.