More will pay transport levy

Press, 7 October 1987, Page 8

More will pay transport levy

By

SUE LANCASTER

and GLEN PERKINSON

Thousands of Canterbury ratepayers will soon be liable for a new charge which could add $lOO to their yearly rates bill.

More than 13,000 properties which fall outside I the Christchurch Transport Board’s 80-year-old rating district may soon be asked to pay their share of the new Canterbury urban transport levy. ; Those 13,000 properties * in Islington, Templeton, J Yaldhurat, Prebbleton, * Taitapu, Halswell, Belfast, ? Parklands, and parts of : Heathcote, Papanui, and * Memorial Avenue receive bus services but do not ; incur Transport Board - rates. ’ Their bus Tares are, >. however, higher than ." those fares within the rating district.

The Canterbury United Council has said the new rating system was devised to distribute the cost of transport more fairly among those who had access to it

Most councils have yet to decide how they will distribute the new levy among their ratepayers, and so were reluctant yesterday to estimate the possible range of costs. However, Heathcote County Council officials suggested in recent weeks that some ratepayers might face increases of up to $2OO.

The Paparua County Council would probably deal with the issue within the next three weeks, said the County Clerk, Mr Bryan Mooar.

He said the cost to ratepayers would -depend on .how the council decided to distribute the levy. Those people who

had a bus service but did not pay Transport Board rates could expect to pay an urban transport board levy next year. They might expect an average increase of a little more than $lOO said Mr Mooar. About 45 per cent of Paparua’s 12,085 ratepayers are at present charged Transport Board rates. The cost to an average house, valued at $60,000 in 1982, is about $lOO.

The Heathcote County Clerk, Mr Pat Cooney, said he expected that those ratepayers who were not paying the levies but had a bus service would have to pay an urban transport-related rate.

Mr Cooney would not comment on the possible cost to ratepayers until the council had decided how it would apportion

the levy. Several possibilities that the council could consider included a uniform charge to all ratepayers, rating by property values, or a differential rating for

each property. The cost to those pro- . perties (with houses) that at present paid Transport Board rates ranged from less than $45 to $330. However, Mr Cooney said that range did not mean there would be similar maximum and minimum payments under the new system. The Waimairi Deputy District Clerk, Mr Stephan Phillips, said there were more than 7000 properties in the district which did not incur Transport Board rates at present and which had a bus service.

He expected they would be liable for some portion of the new levy.

The person dealing with the details in Waimairi was not available yesterday. i A further 21,000 ratepayers in outlying areas will be liable for smaller

rate increases because of the new levy. One-third of gyre County’s 1276 ratepayers will be charged a levy of about $5O. In Ellesmere County about 800 ratepayers are likely to be charged $ll. The County Clerk, Mr George Singleton, said the council was a "little upset” that Lincoln College students were “getting buckshee transport at the cost of the county ratepayers.” , In Kaiapoi, Rangiora, Lyttelton and Mount Herbert council areas the cost is likely to range from $lO to $3O a year to ratepayers within the new urban transport area.