As Mayor, I would like to offer my heartfelt and sincerest apologies for the hurt, distress, hardship, trust and confidence that has been broken due to the faulty process for recalculating direct debit payments. We are deeply sorry for the error that has occurred and Council takes full responsibility.

Acknowledging how our error breaks the trust of you, our ratepayers

If you are one of the 321 impacted households who owes Council money, I would like to give a personal assurance that we will work with you to find a pathway forward that is right for your individual circumstances. My focus is to do whatever it takes to ease the financial and emotional burden caused by our error and to not increase hardship. Rest assured, there will be no penalties or interest charged because of our mistake.

If you are one of the 281 impacted households who is in credit, thank you for your patience as we work to process your refund or apply a credit towards your rates account.

For every ratepayer in the district, I want to acknowledge that we have let you all down. People put their trust in council to calculate their direct debits accurately and we know that it will take time to build back your trust and confidence in our direct debit process.

What actions we are taking to fix things?

As part of fixing our mistake, we need to adopt a new Council Rates Postponement policy. This will help us ensure that those impacted only have to pay back the debt incurred through our error when they can better afford to do this. This may be when their property is sold or when it is placed into trust.

Why we can’t write-off the debts?

We understand that some people want to know why we can’t just write off the rates arrears. We have considered our options and because the rates have been set correctly, and most ratepayers in the Tararua District have already paid the correct amount, offering a postponement option to those in arrears is the most fair and equitable way to support all ratepayers. This will mean there are enough rates available to continue to deliver our key services across the district.

What will happen with the investigation?

We are now conducting a thorough investigation to find out how this faulty process occurred and to put a robust process in place to make sure the error can never happen again in the future.

Once this investigation is complete, we will make public any recommendations to ensure transparency, necessary improvements and to slowly earn back confidence and trust throughout the community.

How you can help?

I encourage everyone in the district to do what they can to support those households impacted. One way to get involved is to give feedback on the new Council Rates Postponement policy. This new policy is out for feedback until Sunday 20 October 2024.

If you would like to give your feedback on the policy, a hard copy feedback form will be available at our libraries and service centres or via the online form on our website at www.tararuadc.govt.nz/property/direct-debit-adjustments.