Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has estimated that cost for the country’s 15 regional councils and unitary authorities, excluding Auckland, to pay for its new freshwater policies, freshwater science and iwi consultation.
The cost to farmers and council infrastructure upgrades are additional, but the policy’s initial costs are starting to materialise as councils consider their 10-year plans.
The Marlborough District Council is considering imposing charges of up to $155 an hour for staff to monitor consented activities.
Environment Canterbury (Ecan) is consulting on two options, which will increase spending by more than $40m than this year, with costs linked to meeting Government policies, including essential freshwater.
Unless amended during consultation, ratepayers face a rates rise of either 18% or 24.5% for the coming year.
The Waikato Regional Council’s 10-year budget for its draft Long-Term Plan would see a 7.3% rate rise in year one, of which about 2% is due to meeting the Government’s freshwater requirements.
Local Government NZ regional council sector chair Doug Leeder says meeting Government designated water regulations will be a major component of the council’s 10-year plans currently under consideration.
“Water implementation is going to be a big one in terms of implementation of their long-term plans, which have got to be finalised by 2024,” Leeder said.
Leeder says costs incurred by councils, such as auditing farm environment plans (FEPs), can only be recovered by general or targeted rates.
“Should that be paid for by the general ratepayer or farmers?” he asked.
“You would have to say the major beneficiary is the farmer.”
Leeder says councils must follow Government directives.
“We have to act according to Parliamentary rules while still delivering our long-term plans by 2024 and being seen to be performing this in terms of capability and capacity.
“Across the country that is going to be a significant cost,” he said.
The Government now requires councils to consult more with iwi, and Leeder says many do not have the resources to participate.
LGNZ is in discussions with the Government about whether councils or the Crown should fund iwi resourcing, a cost Leeder says will stretch to many millions of dollars.
Leeder urged farmers to be involved in the council’s long-term plans, and to engage with iwi as they will have input into catchment management.
Federated Farmers water spokesperson and Canterbury farmer Chris Allen is experiencing first-hand the costs of this new regulatory environment.
A basic resource consent, which initiates a FEP, cost him between $4500 and $5000, while ECan has imposed a $200 annual charge to accept telemetry data from each of his five water consents, a requirement of water metering regulations that now apply.
“I’ve been sending them telemetry data for four or five years. Now, I have to pay them $1000 a year to receive data I have been sending them anyway,” Allen said.
“It’s just going on and on, and we haven’t even started talking about the new (freshwater) bottom lines.”
Allen is not questioning the need to care for the environment but fears the focus on water is being lost, while vast sums of money are being spent on council processes, plans and paperwork.
“Councils need to prioritise and they must remember they have to take their communities along with them,” he said.
Feds national president Andrew Hoggard says the scale of the implications were as he feared, given the policy was formed with limited consultation and without what he called “practical input”.
Given time and broader input, Hoggard says the policy would have been smarter, practical and a lower cost system adopted, using technology.
“It was rushed without farmer input and this is the dog’s breakfast we’ve ended up with,” Hoggard said.
