Small town Southland residents say significant rate rises are hard to take after years of neglect from the council.

On May 5, Southland District Council (SDC) approved an average rate increase of 10.15 percent as part of its Long Term Plan.

The main purpose: to rebuild roads and replace over 150 wooden bridges across the region.

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But the jump has turned heads, including that of 63 year old Otautau resident Wayne Hebberd who says it's not good enough.

“Small towns are getting pinged. We don’t get everything that the town gets."

Acting as a midway point between Ohai and Riverton/Aparima in one direction and Winton and Tuatapere in the other, the farming town is home to about 800 people.

Hebberd has lived there for nine years but hasn’t worked since 2018 following a workplace accident that left him incapacitated.

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Now he spends his days working on the two renovated shipping containers he calls home.

With his current SDC rates of $1900 a year set to go up, he’s vocal about a perceived lack of attention council gives his town.

“They should listen to the people. If you arranged a meeting to discuss the rates, I think you’d have most of the town there.”

Thirty kilometres up the road in Ohai, resident Carol Cudby Robinson echoes similar sentiments.

Carol Cudby Robinson is thinking about moving on from Ohai, saying it's "not welcoming". Photo: Matthew Rosenberg/LDR

The old coal mining town shares a population of just under 1500 with bordering Nightcaps and is a shadow of its former self.

When the cogs of industry stopped turning, the people left in droves.

Ohai is a derelict town in rural Southland set to be hit with an average rate increase of 17 percent. Photo: Matthew Rosenberg/LDR

But sometimes Ohai attracts new residents, like Cudby Robinson, who moved there from Marlborough in 2017 with the aim of becoming mortgage free.

She achieved her goal, but now describes the town as a place nobody wants to live: “basic, unattractive, not welcoming”.

She lives on a street where vacant properties and overgrown lawns are the norm, and now she’s thinking about moving on too.

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“Southland District Council needs to make Ohai a more appealing place to live, and entice more people to purchase properties,” she says.

“That’d give SDC more ratepayers rather than hiking the rates of existing ratepayers.”

In December, Cudby Robinson says somebody took it into their own hands to beautify the town by writing “Brohai” across the welcome sign.

“I just laughed,” she said.

The ramshackle Ohai Bowling Club. The building has been sold but Southland District Council have retained ownership of the land. Photo: Matthew Rosenberg/LDR

Southland district mayor Gary Tong said he heard the frustration of small communities and understood people were doing it tough.

He said "a lot" of key infrastructure was coming to the end of its useful life in the next ten years and that council currently didn't have enough funding to meet the increased costs.

“Time and time again during the consultation period as we developed our new Long Term Plan, we heard from the people of Southland district that maintaining the quality of our roads and bridges was non-negotiable."

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Not all residents see the rates increase as an issue, however.

One Otautau person, who didn’t want to be named because they didn’t consider themselves a “local” yet, couldn’t understand the fuss.

“I don’t know that we can complain. Okay we’ve only got footpaths on one side of the road. But jeepers, there’s not a hell of a lot that’s here.”

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But those who do care, care a lot.

On May 13, a sole protester pulled up outside Southland District Council in her 1975 Triumph Stag with placard in hand.

It was Nightcaps resident Wendy Baker - a vocal voice in the fight to keep rates down.

Baker says her rates are set to increase to $2900, and she's not happy.

“Having a 10.15 percent increase is not promoting a better country if you’re not improving the service levels as well.

“It’s hard going for people after Covid. Every cent counts to some people.”

Nightcaps resident Wendy Baker is protesting the rates increase, saying it tough times for people. Photo: Matthew Rosenberg/LDR

Southland District Council’s Long Term Plan is currently with Audit New Zealand. Once the audit is complete, council will adopt the plan on June 23.

Council had “eased the burden” on urban townships by moving $1 million of strategic asset reserve money from roading to existing wastewater rates, Mayor Tong said.

By Local Democracy Reporter Matthew Rosenberg

Republished by Arrangement