Tararua District Mayor Scott Gilmore is disappointed NZTA has reduced the Financial Assistance Rate (FAR) for the district’s road network, with the cut in Government funding meaning a greater cost will fall to local ratepayers.

NZTA currently contributes 73 cents towards every eligible dollar spent on Tararua roads. Next year that will reduce to 72 cents, before dropping again to 71 cents for the following two years.

Mayor Gilmore says the impact is significant, with the reduction expected to cost the Tararua District roughly $1.286 million over three years.

“While a one or two percentage point reduction may sound small, for our district even a small reduction in government funding has a significant financial impact.”

“It is disappointing that at the same time as Government is telling councils to keep rates increases down, which we support, it is cutting the funding available to maintain our essential roading network.”

“We’re very grateful for the strong partnership we have with NZTA, and the support they provided us through the Cyclone Gabrielle recovery, but the reduction in our FAR will leave us only two choices - we either reduce badly needed investment in our roads, or we ask our ratepayers to cover the funding cut. Neither is a good outcome.”

The scale of the Tararua District’s roading network makes the impact particularly significant. “Our road network is enormous. Tararua maintains 1966 kilometres of local roads and is one of the largest networks relative to population in New Zealand.”

Mayor Gilmore says he understands the financial pressures facing Central Government but says this decision does not save money: “This just shifts the cost from Central Government onto ratepayers or encourages underinvestment in essential infrastructure.”

He says there is a contradiction in Government criticism of council spending. “Government is constantly telling us they hear concerns about council spending. We hear those concerns too, but we are equally concerned about Government decisions that force councils to spend more.”

“Since the election our council has worked hard to reduce the financial burden to ratepayers, but this becomes incredibly difficult when Central Government adds additional costs onto us, while at the same time expecting low rates increases”.

Mayor Gilmore says Council will be asking for a rethink of the decision. “I will be writing to the NZTA Board and the Minister of Transport asking them to reconsider this funding cut, while also asking our team to look at our options if that is unsuccessful.”