Federated Farmers Southland executive member Bernadette Hunt says she could pay as much as $10,000 more in rates under Gore District Council's review of how rates are split across the district, Farmers Weekly reported on Tuesday.
The council is proposing two options. Under both, rural properties would carry a larger share of the rates the council collects.
A council spokesperson told Farmers Weekly the review was needed because three waters was leaving the rating system, land use had changed over time, legislation required it and the system had become too complex.
Under the current system, without three waters, residential properties pay 61.4% of the total, with commercial on 7.3%, industrial on 8.6%, rural on 22% and utilities on 1.3%.
Rural land makes up 46.8% of the district's capital value and residential 41.9%.
"Under the current structure, rural properties have the highest combined capital value but only contribute 22% to the rates, whereas the majority of rates collected are from residential properties in the district," the spokesperson said.
Option A applies a rural differential of 0.85. Rural properties would pay 26.3% of rates, residential 57.6%, commercial 6.6% and industrial 8.5%.
Option B sets the rural differential at 1.0. Rural would pay 28.8%, residential 55.9%, commercial 6.3% and industrial 8.1%.
Farmers Weekly checked many rural properties on the council's online rates dashboard and found increases of up to 57%. Most town properties showed no increase, and some residences would pay less under either option, it reported.
Asked what justified the change, the spokesperson pointed to the Local Government Act, which considers who creates the need for services as well as who benefits.
"The argument could also be made that the rural sector have a bigger impact on the roading network, with the need for more heavy vehicles than the residential ratepayers," the spokesperson said.
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Ms Hunt said Gore's drinking water, wastewater and stormwater would shift next year to Southern Waters, a company owned jointly by the Gore, Clutha and Central Otago councils, taking most of those costs and the matching revenue off the council's books.
"It's not a consultation about how much money the council is collecting," Ms Hunt told Farmers Weekly.
"The pot of money they're collecting is staying the same, but it's about who puts how much into the pot."
Farmers Weekly reported that the sticking point for rural ratepayers was a move to fund parks and reserves, the multisport complex, the library and arts and heritage through the general rate, which is charged on capital value.
She said a farmer with a $5 million farm got no more value from the library than the owner of a $500,000 house.
What happens next
Ms Hunt said Federated Farmers was seeing signs that rural rates could rise in other districts too, pointing to a rates review by Carterton District Council.
Gore ratepayers can look up their own property on the council's 2026 Council Rates Review Options Dashboard to see what they would pay under each option.
Farmers Weekly reported that operation of the district's three waters services is due to pass to Southern Waters next year, the change that prompted the council to review its rating system.
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