A Southland District Council report says areas of some towns like Otautau have rates that are more than 5 per cent of median household income. Southland District Council finance development co-ordinator Nicole Taylor has prepared a Southland District Rates Affordability Assessment report, which will be tabled at a full council meeting on Wednesday. While council rates are affordable on some levels, the report recommends low-income households in the Southland district be able to remit or postpone some rates payments. Taylor says in the report that at a distributional affordability level (individuals or groups of ratepayers), rate affordability issues are more apparent in pockets of Southland where median household rates are above 5 per cent of median household income. Areas of Ohai, Nightcaps, Riverton, Otautau, Tuatapere, Wyndham, and Lumsden all have median rates more than 5 per cent of median household income, and trigger multiple other affordability indicators, Taylor says.

Source: Stuff July 20, 2020 00:00 UTC