Farmers fight rate hike

JOHN HAWKINS/ The Southland Times

PUTTING THEIR CASE: Farmers at the Environment Southland's draft long-term council community plan hearing yesterday.

Relevant offers

Rural heavyweights fronted up to protest against proposed water and dairy rates, which they said would cripple farmers, at a submissions hearing in Invercargill yesterday.

About 30 Federated Farmers members attended the Environment Southland offices yesterday for submissions on the draft long term council community plan.

Federated Farmers policy analyst Matt Harcombe said the $1.08 million dairy rate would be yet another cost farmers could not afford.

The rate was proposed to help the council pay for rising compliance costs and staff needed to monitor the south's dairy industry.

Mr Harcombe said some farmers did not perform to standard but they should be the ones penalised, not the industry as a whole.

Submitting on behalf of both DairyNZ and Fonterra, Fonterra sustainable dairying specialist Lew Metcalfe said there was no need to increase compliance staff.

The organisations jointly funded one dairy liaison officer, with another pending, and had a good working relationship with the council, he said.

Neither organisation supported increased rates, which would lift dairy farmers' rates from between 430 and 450 per cent, Mr Metcalfe said.

Winton dairy farmer John Evans said the recession was taking its toll already without having to pay more.

The council is also considering a user-pays system for the larger users of water in Southland.

Some submitters supported the water-take rate but took issue with its implementation.

Southland District Council senior policy analyst Wayne Heerdegen said the council needed to clarify how users would pay for it.

Under the proposal it appeared it would have to pay twice to give Environment Southland information it was already supplying.

Alliance Group environmental manager Dennis Butler said if the proposed water charge was adopted, his company would pay about $200,000 a year, becoming one of the chief funders of water research and monitoring.

Invercargill City Council councillor Alan Denis likened the LTCCP to a budget and said his council had just had a $100,000 bill thrown at it, which would be difficult to explain to its ratepayers.

Environment Southland chairman Stuart Collie said nothing was set in stone - any suggestion that could improve the long-term plan would be considered.

The hearing continues today.

- © Fairfax NZ News