
Mayor demands U-turn on ‘totally unaffordable' Ruapehu water plan
He has formally asked councillors to revoke the July resolution and instead join a four or five-council option with the Palmerston North, Horowhenua and Rangitīkei councils and Whanganui, if it wished to join.
The larger groupings would deliver significantly lower water charges for ratepayers, Kirton said.
The council voted 6-4 on July 9 to reject the officer-recommended four-council model. Kirton and three councillors were in favour.
The bid to overturn the decision comes after new affordability guidance from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
Kirton said the advice showed the decision would increase all Ruapehu water bills well above what was considered affordable.
In the first year of the two-council entity, charges would be nearly $2500 per household – almost $1000 more than under a five-council model.
For affordability, the DIA recommends water charges stay under 2.5% of median household income. Updated financial modelling shows Ruapehu would breach that benchmark under the two-council arrangement.
'Totally unaffordable'
For the poorest households, particularly in northern Ruapehu, water charges could climb to nearly 6% of median household income within 10 years – more than double the threshold.
'These costs are totally unaffordable for many of our people and will be especially severe for Māori communities.'
New regulatory requirements would further increase cost pressures, Kirton said.
National water regulator Taumata Arowai has told the council to bring forward upgrades to its non-compliant wastewater plants sooner than planned.
This meant water charges under the two-council model were forecast to rise to $2800 per connection within a few years and reach more than $4000 by 2033/34.
The estimated cost for the upgrades ranged from $66 million for wastewater dispersed to water, to more than $200m if dispersed to land.
River protection
Kirton said he was not rejecting Whanganui or the many constructive partnerships between the two districts.
'We have strong and ongoing collaboration with Whanganui across multiple areas, such as the Mountains to Sea cycle trail and economic development, which will continue regardless of our water services structure.'
A five-council model would deliver the lowest possible user charges for all water users, the greatest operational efficiencies, and align the Whangaehu and Whanganui river catchments under a single regulator and service provider.
Existing commitments to river protection and shared services would not be compromised by moving to a larger model.
Kirton said some councillors had downplayed financial concerns, arguing that affordability could be addressed by the new entity or the Commerce Commission.
'At our workshop this week, the only proposed solution to unaffordable charges was 'writing a letter to the Minister'. That's not good enough.
'I'm not prepared to defer responsibility and hope someone else sorts it out. This is our chance to act decisively and protect the people of Ruapehu from excessive costs.'
'Blood out of a stone'
Councillor Fiona Kahukura Hadley-Chase told Local Democracy Reporting she thought it unlikely the decision would be overturned.
She was unconvinced by the cost projections.
'There's no clear data, information or evidence. The modelling, the forecasting and the legislation keeps changing. They're plucking figures out of the sky.
'Because of that, I'm going to say the relationship with Whanganui must stay strong. If we don't have that, then we're paddling upstream.'
Hadley-Chase said the district's 5500 ratepayers could not afford upcoming water costs and the council should seek a partnership with the DIA to pay for water.
'Dumping us in a bigger pool is not going to help. Our people can't afford to pay for water, full-stop.
'We cannot afford to build this infrastructure. It shouldn't mean we should go into millions worth of debt. It's unreasonable for the Government to put that on us.
'The DIA should develop a unique solution to help those [councils] who are struggling. You cannot get blood out of a stone.'
Decision looms on water plan U-turn
The council will consider the motion to overturn the two-council decision on August 13.
Kirton is encouraging the public to contact their elected members or speak in the public forum before the vote.
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe said he was surprised to learn that the decision was being reconsidered.
'It was disappointing to learn of this without direct contact to me – fortunately, I was advised informally.
'I am confident that when this matter goes to vote next week, the majority will continue to support the two-council water services CCO.'
Tripe said the councils were to consider a joint water services delivery plan (WSDP) for adoption next week to make sure they meet the September 3 deadline.
'It's a strong model, which balances local voice, and the benefits of scale and consolidation. A majority of Ruapehu councillors recognised this when they also adopted it as their preferred model.'
Tripe said if Whanganui's preferred model became unavailable, the council would have to reconsider its remaining options, revise its WSDP and work to meet its legislative obligations.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Education minister bans Māori words from junior books
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1News
3 hours ago
- 1News
Fury as ministry cans kids book for too many Māori words
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RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Education Minister cut Māori words from future junior books, documents reveal
Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Education Minister Erica Stanford has imposed a near total ban on Māori in new additions to a series of books used to teach five-year-olds to read. An Education Ministry report shows Stanford decided in October last year to exclude all Māori words except for characters' names from any new books in the Education Ministry's Ready to Read Phonics Plus (RtRPP) series. The paper showed the decision was driven by concern Māori words were confusing for children learning to read English though evidence of that was mixed. Stanford told RNZ the decision affected only 12 books that would finish the series, after which the series, including 27 books with Māori words, could be reprinted. The ministry's report said: "Under this option, we would not include kupu Māori in all phases of the RtRPP scope and sequence for any future books. The 13 RtRPP books currently in development do not contain any kupu Māori, apart from character names." It was not clear in the paper whether the books would be reprinted. "As noted above, the RtRPP resources are expected to have a lifespan in schools of approximately 10 years, so it would take several years for the books containing kupu Māori that are currently in circulation to be replaced in practice." The document showed Stanford also instructed the ministry to develop a teaching sequence in the English curriculum to help teachers prepare children to read Māori words from their second year at school. Stanford told RNZ that would stop teaching children in mainstream classrooms to pronounce and read Māori from being "left to chance". The ministry's document said currently from Year 4, Māori words were included in the curriculum with increasing frequency and complexity. Stanford told RNZ she considered rewriting the 27 books that contained Māori words to retain only the proper nouns in Māori, but later decided against it. "These are very early readers that teach children to learn to read and there are already 'heart' words in there that children have to memorise in English and if there are some te reo words in there as well, then that's okay and we'll leave them as they are," she said. She described the decision as the middle position between conflicting advice. The minister's October decision included reprinting one of the books, 'At the Marae', as a big book but not as a 'reader' for children to take home - something that angered many teachers and principals in the past week. The document showed Stanford raised the issue after "experts in structured literacy approaches" told her that including two different languages in the books could confuse learners and make it harder for them to master English phonetics. The ministry's paper said evidence about that was mixed but there was a case to consider the amount of Māori words in books for children learning to read. Literacy experts told RNZ this week Māori words were part of everyday New Zealand English and did not present problems for beginning readers because their spelling was regular and their vowel sounds matched some of the English vowels. The document said 26 of the 75 Ready to Read books had up to three Māori words and a 27th, 'At the Marae', had six Māori words. A hand-written note on the document showed the minister wanted te reo Māori introduced when children stopped using "decodable" books like the Ready to Read series, usually at the end of their first year at school or early in their second year. "I want to include in the NZC (English) a section on Te Reo vowel sounds and pronunciation to ready students for reading te reo words in school journals as previously discussed," she wrote. Stanford also noted that: "Interestingly - I asked kura leaders if they would accept English words in te reo Māori decodable books and they no. So it would be consistent to keep one language only in very early Year 1 decodable books, except for names." The ministry's paper said the Ready to Read series was designed to teach the reading of English "and the sound-letter correspondences in English". "Our advice to schools is to teach kupu Māori in RtRPP books as "told" words. The foundational skill of phonic decoding within the resoruces is based on the English language and students are not expected to decode the kupu Māori," it said. The paper warned the options could result in pushback from schools. "If we discontinue the use of kupu Māori (apart from character names) in RtRPP books, there may be a negative response and media attention. [REDACTED] In particular, recalling existing books has the potential to generate pushback." The minister wrote in response: "It's only in Year 1 decodable books that teach English and it would align with the approach taken in te reo decodables. Te Reo would be introduced immediately after the use of decodable stops which is typically end of Year 1 early Year 2 where students move on to journals." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.