Councils
South Pacific Meats and Open Country Dairy told Invercargill City councillors this week that 31.5% water increases on top of last year’s 80% would just cripple their industry.
Managers Brent Crawford and Mike Butler spoke to the Annual Plan submissions earlier this week and said they felt as industrial users they were unfairly targeted.
Last year when the increases happened they claimed to have no warning from council and when the bill arrived thought there was a database issue.
Last year’s bill increased from the budgeted $140,000 a year to a whopping $442,000 - after the water bill went from .80c/litre to $1.80.
Mike said they were now paying three times the price of water than counterparts in Whanganui and the 31.5% increase would push it up to $2.39/litre.
The company was looking at a proposal for a new cheese plant employing 150 staff, but they were in danger of losing business, when they were competing with the North Island.
This year they received two letters from council explaining the increases, but Brent said given the huge impact, they expected a simple phone call or email to warn them.
He reminded council about both companies funding the $5 million trade waste pipeline upgrade to council in 2021, and expected there would’ve been some acknowledgement of that.
The managers wanted to sit down with council staff and discuss the possibility of a separate fee structure.
They said it also wasn’t fair they paid the same rate as the thousands of residential water users on the main Bluff line, when they only received the overflow of water from the town.
“Basically we’re subsidising ratepayers. We really are in danger of getting knocked back by someone else getting the business,” Mike said.
Mayor Nobby Clark told whatsoninvers.nz this week council received more than 500 submissions on the Annual Plan, which was way more than last time.
He said the decision on rates increases was going to be very political and had the potential to split the council.
90 Seconds+ with Invercargill City Mayor Nobby Clark - Your Annual Plan Feedback
Mayor Nobby Clark returns to discuss public feedback on Invercargill’s Annual Plan. With over 500 submissions, residents agree on the need for budget cuts — but many oppose reducing support for ILT stadium Southland and community wellbeing funding. He also weighs in on the potential council amalgamation across Southland, suggesting
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