Marie Davis

As a ratepayer of the Whakatāne District Council, I can’t understand why, when questioned about over-charging on water rates, the answer we get is, “it is policy”.

The issue is, I have a small flat as part of a body corporate, which gets billed once, then it gets proportioned out for payment amongst all flat owners (of which there are nine).  

We have one water meter, which is read once, but because there are nine flats, we get charged 9x$164, as if there are nine water meter readings.

That means our twice-yearly invoice for water rates includes $1312 extra that we must pay for.

That is a fair amount of extra funds we as ratepayers are having to pay.

All I ask is, is this fair? And I’m left wondering how many other body corporates around the Whakatāne district are caught up in this as well.

■ Whakatāne District Council manager rates Justin McGeough responds:

Water supply charges in the Whakatāne district are based on individual rating units. Flats or apartments can be considered separate units, so this charge applies to each one.

For more information around these changes please see the Rates Resolution