Meeting organiser Murray Jamieson’s rates will jump from $23,000 to $40,000 in the next financial year under the proposal. Jamieson milks 1100 cows on 447ha near Okaihau and Lake Omapere north of Kaikohe.
He claims the 280 dairy farmers in the council region, along with 700 forestry ratepayers, are being unfairly targeted in a planned new differential rate aimed at making heavy transport users pay a greater share of roading costs.
Jamieson will chair the protest meeting on Tuesday at the Okaihau Town Hall starting at 11am.
He says the council plans the new differential rate because it believes dairy farming and forestry are damaging the roads.
“We’ve done some research; there are only nine Fonterra tankers that operate in the district with an average 2.6 loads of milk/day/year; and 22% of the dairy farmers actually live on state highways maintained by Transport New Zealand and road user charges.
“Just one quarry alone puts three times as much weight on the road per year as all the logging and all the dairy farmers together, yet their rates are not changing.”
Jamieson says the council claims it has public support because the majority of urban properties, and other types of farms, are getting a decrease.
“The farm right next door to us is drystock and his rates are going down.” Jamieson says rates are meant to be on land value – yet the next-door neighbour’s rates are $44/ha and his are $168/ha. “Even the drystock farmer thinks it is unfair and is supporting us.”
Also speaking at the meeting will be drystock farmer and transport operator Ken Rintoul who will not be affected by the rate increase – in fact he expects a 20% increase. But he believes the council has got it wrong and could use this as a mandate to come down harder on others in future.
In a submission he says the new rate equates to $32 per tanker load for dairy farmers (and $39 for foresters). He asks why this rate is not being applied to all other sectors such as commercial, industrial and lifestylers using heavy vehicles.
Placemakers Kerikeri has 10 truck movements per day and Countdown Kerikeri has five trucks a day, he says.
Jamieson says he is not opposed to a rate increase by councils as this supports the community, but he points out it should be fair across all sectors.
