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Ashburton
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Friday, June 7, 2013
Rates to rise 5.8 per cent
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FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 27, 1879
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Plan submissions force larger increase By Sue Newman After four days of submissions and deliberations on its annual plan, the Ashburton District Council needs to find more than $250,000 extra to run the district next year. In its draft annual plan it had budgeted to spend $26.552 million, equating to an average rate rise of 4.9 per cent. A number of appeals for additional funds and a decision to invest an extra $100,000 in shingle for rural roads has seen the average rate rise increase by about 0.9 per cent to 5.8 per cent. This is still well below the 7.4 per cent increase forecast in the council’s long-term community plan. The other big contributors to the rate increase are the district’s memorial and community halls. The council has decided to pick up the tab for insurance for memorial halls and for initial earthquake inspections on community halls. This is likely to cost about $48,000. Additional expenditure also includes giving Experience Mid Canterbury $20,000 for a portion of the cost of an online marketing position. It will also be counting as an additional expense the loss of interest on some of its cash reserves that will be used to
underground some of the Harrison Street water channel and to pay for a portion of the Mt Somers water supply. The impact on individual rates across most of the district will be minimal and can be counted in single dollars. The brunt of the increased spending will be supported by the rural sector where the average rate rise has risen from 3.6 per cent to 4.5 per cent. The deteriorating condition of rural roads meant the council had no option but to pour more of its own funds into their upkeep, said Ashburton Mayor Angus Mckay. The extra $100,000 the council was putting into its roading budget would be money that would not be subsidised by the New Zealand Transport Agency, but the council would be fighting to attract a subsidy retrospectively, he said. “I’ve lost patience waiting for an answer so we’re going to go ahead and do a limited amount of this work unsubsidised. We’re keeping track of this money and letting the Government know we’re doing what they should be doing and what we’ve asked for.” Ashburton wasn’t alone in taking the initiative to fund roading work itself, with Selwyn having tagged $1 million of its own money for unsubsidised roading work, Mr McKay said.
RATE RISES Area
Ashburton Methven Rakaia Fairton Hakatere Hinds Mayfield Chertsey Mt Somers Winchmore Rural Lake Hood
Increase per draft annual plan
Increase after submissions
$241,500 2% ($31) $241,500 0.2% ($3) $240,000 5.1% ($78) $241,500 6.8% ($74) $157,500 5.9% ($54) $210,000 5.3% ($52) $210,000 7.6% ($109) $241,500 6.5% ($60) $210,000 19.8% ($216) $7.280m 2.4% ($227) $7.280m 3.6% ($253) $572,000 4.1% ($68)
2.2% ($33) 0.3% ($5) 5.3% ($80) 7.1% ($77) 6.1% ($56) 5.5% ($54) 7.7% ($111) 6.8% ($62) 18.5% ($202) 3.1% ($294) 4.5% ($320) 4.5% ($74)
CV
Photo Kirsty Clay 060613-kc-031
Combined A&P associations’ winter feed competition judges Brian Leadley, Martin Fleming and James Anderson discuss a crop of fodder beet on Chris Bolderston’s farm at Hinds yesterday. Fodder beet is driving the engines of Mid Canterbury’s prolific dairy herd, according to the results of yesterday’s finals of the winter feed competition. Judges from Ashburton, Mayfield and Methven A&P associations hit the road after lunch to find the best winter feed crop in the district. The overall winner was first
time entrant Mark Hillier from Willamette Farm in the Methven district, who entered the competition after his neighbours looked over the fence at greener pastures. After a surprise win in his district’s competition Mr Hillier told the Guardian information gleaned from research about the timing of fertiliser and irrigation
had paid off. Quigley Farms took the second spot in the competition, also with a crop of fodder beet. Nine farms were under the spotlight; the first and second place-getters in the individual district competitions, along with the winner of the target crop section. The judges’ task began with
Hinds farmer Chris Bolderston’s fodder beet crop, which was already in high demand from a herd of heifers on the other side of the break fence. Judge Brian Leadley said they were looking for the quality the crop as a whole. “We are checking the evenness of the crop as a whole, how well it has been established, weed
establishment and insect damage,” Mr Leadley said. He said fodder beet provided energy in the form of high energy sugars, along with a good supply of essential nutrients. Ross Duncan’s crop of kale took out the prize for the target crop, with Steve Shearer in second place, followed by Roger Henderson.
Bach relocation ‘only erosion solution’ By Sue Newman Relocating their homes might be the only option left for seaside bach owners in the Hakatere huts settlement. Over decades river erosion carved into the cliffs on which the six or seven water front baches sit, and they now have a front yard that is less than two metres from a sheer drop. Determined to find answers to erosion issues, more than 50 property owners in the settlement made a submission to the Ashburton District Council’s annual plan. They wanted the council to look at options for stopping both river erosion and erosion by run-off after heavy rain.
Stopping the river eroding the cliffs was impossible, councillor John Leadley said. “It’s a big issue, it’s absolutely horrendous, we won’t tame the Pacific Ocean. I don’t see any physical solutions we can use to stop this.” For bach owners, the ultimate solution was to shift the front row of houses back to beyond the tennis courts, he said. “I still don’t see any other solution. In 50 years those cliffs have come back about 20 to 30 metres. We need to meet with Ecan and the residents and if anyone can come up with a silver bullet solution that’s great but I think we need to look long term.” The relocation of sea front baches had been on the drawing board for
years, council property manager John Rooney said. When the lower settlement land was sold to the hutholders’ association, the impact of future erosion was identified. The deal was that vacant sections had to be kept at the back of the settlement for the owners of those front row baches, he said. “This is clearly understood by the people down there. It’s an unfortunate situation because the simple answer to these baches is that they’re not capable of being picked up and moved. They’d fall to pieces and have to be rebuilt.” Some bach holders were saying they didn’t want baches on the rear sections because they would encroach on their green space, but that’s what that green space was
for in the original agreement, Mr Rooney said. “There’s no way you can stop it. You can spend a lot of money putting in barriers but the river will only come in behind them. The council has to be careful here it does not take responsibility for something that’s not their problem.” During a thunderstorm on April 30 there was a deluge of water from the upper huts level and this, combined with water running down River Road, saw about two metres of cliff collapse, taking with it the residents’ only access to the beach. Mr Rooney suggested one option to prevent damage from run-off could be diverting water into holding tanks and then piping this out into the river away from the cliffs. “Stormwater is something coun-
cil can and should be involved in. That’s our bit and if there is something we can do to stop that, that’s fine.” While councillor Robin Kilworth said the council should become the residents’ advocate to ECan, acting as the middle man, Mr Rooney said this needed to be done at some distance so the council was not perceived as accepting some degree of responsibility for coastal erosion. The council has made a submission to ECan’s annual plan stating its concerns about coastal erosion in the settlement. It has also asked that ECan staff meet with residents at the settlement to discuss their concerns about both coastal and riverbank erosion and to investigate possible remedial approaches.
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