Ratepayers are being asked to dip into their pockets, with a 10 per cent rates spike proposed to fund a clean up of Hawke's Bay waterways.
Yesterday the Hawke's Bay Regional Council voted to include a "one-off" rates increase for a million-dollar environmental fund in their 2017-2018 annual plan, and approved a consultation document.
"The bottom line is that many of our rivers, lakes, and streams are a disgrace and in some cases getting worse," the consultation document stated.
"We need to fix them and we need your help to do this."
To create an "environmental kick start fund" which would "accelerate action on our hot-spots" the council was proposing a rates increase of 9.88 per cent. This would mean an additional cost in the 2017-2018 year of between $33 and $15 for urban areas - or $3 for Flaxmere.
This fund would go toward plans for "environment hot spots" - including Lake Tutira, Ahuriri Estuary, Whakaki Lake and Wairoa River, Lake Whatuma and the Tukituki catchment, and the Karamu stream.
Council chairman Rex Graham said as it had taken a long time for these areas to reach their current condition, "it's going to take some investment and energy to turn the clock back".
The fund would not allow council to "do the doing" at each area, but council did not intend to ask for such an increase again as it would make its own savings.
It was proposed the rate level increase over the level included in the Long Term Plan - of 5.51 per cent, a paper before council stated.
An increase of 4.88 per cent would fund the "business as usual" delivery of council services, but not allow the "acceleration" of addressing environmental hot spots. Increasing rates a further 5 per cent to 9.88 per cent would fast track environmental projects.
Two councillors voted against increasing rates to 9.88 per cent - councillor Fenton Wilson said when he floated the idea to people in Wairoa, they did not "want a bar of it".
While councillor Debbie Hewitt said the idea was "commendable" she was concerned about the impact on Central Hawke's Bay residents as they were already faced with additional costs for Plan Change 6.
Under the proposed increase, households in Wairoa could expect an additional yearly cost of around $15, or an additional $16.80 for Central Hawke's Bay
Councillor Neil Kirton said the proposed rate rise was asking Hawke's Bay residents to "recognise the crisis that we're in", and was an urgent call to clean up waterways.
He said there were water issues from one end of Hawke's Bay to the other, and this was a "call to action to recognise these issues, and that the regional council is ready to respond".
Councillor Tom Belford said this would be a wake-up call for ratepayers, who would have to "come to terms" with what it cost to deal with these environmental issues.
The approved rating option would come into effect on July 1, after the council adopted the 2017-2018 Annual Plan.
- The consultation period begins April 10 and ends May 12.