Christchurch City Council is proposing changes to who pays for the city’s vital land drainage work, as part of its Draft Long Term Plan 2021–31.
The land drainage targeted rate funds the operating costs of the Council’s stormwater drainage and flood protection and control works. At the moment this rate is only paid by ratepayers with properties in the ‘serviced area’ – all the developed land within the district or where there’s a land drainage service.
The Draft Long Term Plan 2021–31, which is out for public consultation until Sunday 18 April, proposes that because these services enable all of us to get around more easily without surface flooding and make our city a pleasant place to live, all of Christchurch benefits from these works.
“We’re proposing these changes to make things fair and equitable across Christchurch and Banks Peninsula, and to better reflect the population that benefits from the Council’s land drainage work,” says Diane Brandish, Acting General Manager Resources CFO.
“We’re proposing that ratepayers who already pay this rate will continue to do so, but the new targeted rate will be phased in over three years to those who don’t, until all ratepayers are meeting this cost. The other option would be to leave things unchanged, but we don’t think this is fair to all ratepayers.”
At the moment, most rural Banks Peninsula properties and most of the city’s rural properties in the northwest don’t pay the rate.
If the proposal goes ahead, the ratepayers who haven’t been paying this rate would start in 2021/22, starting at 33 per cent of the full targeted rate. This will increase to 67 per cent of the full rate for 2022/23 and reach 100 per cent for 2023/24 onwards, sharing the cost over all ratepayers.
For example, a property valued at $500,000 would pay a land drainage targeted rate of $68.01 in the 2021/22 year, increasing to a full rate of $206.09 in 2023/24.
| Property’s capital value $ | First year: Land drainage transitional rate (one third) ($/yr) | Third year: Land drainage (full rate) ($/yr) |
| 200,000 | 27.20 |
82.44 |
| 300,00 | 40.81 |
123.65 |
| 400,000 | 54.41 |
164.87 |
| 500,000 | 68.01 |
206.09 |
| 600,000 | 81.61 |
247.31 |
| 800,000 | 108.82 |
329.741 |
| 1,000,000 | 136.02 |
412.18 |
| 1,500,000 | 204.03 |
618.27 |
| 2,000,000 | 272.04 |
824.36 |
| 5,000,000 | 680.10 |
2,060.90 |
People can see which properties are in what category on the map at ccc.govt.nz/longtermplan
The 4000 or so property owners who will be affected by the proposed changes are being sent additional information, and encouraged to ask questions and leave feedback at ccc.govt.nz/longtermplan