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Afternoon Grace

 

Many thanks for your email regarding Council’s Direct Debit options.

 

Whilst the local council (Hastings, Napier, Wairoa or CHB) invoice
quarterly (typically invoices are due August, November, February and May),
we are HBRC invoice annual with a due date of 20 September each year.

 

Ratepayers have the option to set their DD up as a due date where we
effectively take a lump sum payment on 20 September (highlighted in
yellow). Alternatively they can choose to set a DD which in essence
accumulates funds that largely offsets the rates due on 20 September the
following year. I liken in to putting money into a ‘jam jar’ and then
using that ‘jar’ to pay the rates due.

 

Paying in advance doesn’t suit everyone but the DD does provide a layer of
protection (no penalties) and enables ratepayers to budget and set aside
smaller amounts to offset their rating obligations. They could of course
do this themselves I.e set aside funds each week and put it into a saving
account and then use that to pay their rates. There is certainly no
obligation to choose the DD payment option; it’s a personal preference
thing.

 

We do not currently offer a DD that collects funds during the rating year
I.e not in advance.  The due date is fundamental in all this.

 

Around 4 years ago our Due Date was actually 31 October although the late
payment penalty was applied on 31 January so everyone took this as the
‘due date’. However Council elected to bring forward the due date to 20
September, reducing our interest costs and thus saving ratepayers money.
Our activities are carried out throughout the year from 01 July; not after
we have collected our rates.  

 

When setting up a DD from scratch, the initial DD can in some cases be
higher than normal simply because its collecting both current (24/25) and
future (estimate of 25/26 rates) at the same time. It would then reduce
from the following October (25) as the recalculation would only then seek
to recover one years rates (the 26/27 rates).

 

The alternative would be to pay a lump sum (24/25 rates) and then have the
DD just collect the 25/26 rates over that 12 month period. That is one of
the tick option on our DD form (highlighted in green).

 

 

As I stated above, the DD (paying in advance) doesn’t suit everyone and it
will come down to personal preference. It enables the ratepayer to break
their rates down into smaller amounts, budget and provides penalty
protection.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further
clarification of the above.

 

Regards

Ashley

 

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |Ashley Humphrey |
| |Rates Lead |
| |06 835 9200 |
| |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |Hawke's Bay Regional Council | Te Kaunihera ā-rohe o Te Matau a Māui |
| |159 Dalton Street, Napier 4110 | [1]hbrc.govt.nz |
| | |
| |Enhancing Our Environment Together | Te Whakapakari Tahi I Tō Tātau |
| |Taiao |
|-+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
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+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

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From: Grace Haden <[8][FOI #28224 email]>

Date: Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 4:14 pm

Caution: This email is from outside of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
Do not click links or open attachments unless you are certain the content
is safe. If this email claims to be from a HBRC staff member, do not click
on any links or attachments and contact the ServiceDesk immediately.

To
Hawke's Bay Regional Council

We have just received out 24/25 rates and here is an option to pay this by
direct debit

However there is a catch it appears that over 12 months you are not paying
1/12 of the rates demand but you are actually paying this years rates and
next years rates therefore more like 1/6 of the rates bill paid monthly
for 12 months doubeling the sum demanded

the 25/26 rates have not been struck yet it appears that you are
collecting them in advance

please provide all documentatio and discussion which relates to the
decison to make those paying on direct debit pay two years rates in one
year and also provide documents to show what happens at the end of a year
does it mean that there are no rates to pay end august 2025

Yours faithfully,

Grace Haden

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Thank you for your email Grace.

 

As you can see on the extract from our online form below, there are a
number of  Direct Debit options for our ratepayers– all of which are
completely voluntary.

For those ratepayers who have paid their current invoice in full, the
instalments accrue a credit balance in anticipation of the August invoice,
which is due by 20 September each year.  Unlike the city / district
councils who invoice quarterly, our annual invoice has a short timeframe
between our rate setting, and the due date, which can be financially
difficult.

 

Some ratepayers drip feed us small amounts during the year as a budgeting
tool to spread the financial burden. This process relies on them taking
responsibility to manage any shortfall by the due date to avoid late
payment penalties, and adjusting their payment plan each year to
anticipate  increases in rates.  Under the DD system, we manage the
adjustments for the ratepayer, and the account is penalty protected unless
there are any payment dishonours.

 

For someone signing up for a new direct debit, they have the option of
including the current invoice balance into the instalments for the first
12 months.  It does mean that the payments for the first 12 months are
higher, but for some,  that is a preferable payment option. In this
instance the ratepayer is paying in arrears for the first 6 months, then
in advance for the rest of the year.

 

When rates are set, if there is a shortfall in the balance owing, versus
the accrued balance, we adjust the payment for the following 12 months, to
collect the shortfall.  If a property is sold during the rating year, the
credit balance is refunded on settlement.

 

The Direct Debit service may not suit  everyone but as stated above, it is
entirely voluntary.

 

 

 

Regards

The Rates Team

 

 

 

From: Grace Haden <[1][FOI #28224 email]>

Date: Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 4:14 pm

Caution: This email is from outside of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
Do not click links or open attachments unless you are certain the content
is safe. If this email claims to be from a HBRC staff member, do not click
on any links or attachments and contact the ServiceDesk immediately.

To
Hawke's Bay Regional Council

We have just received out 24/25 rates and here is an option to pay this by
direct debit

However there is a catch it appears that over 12 months you are not paying
1/12 of the rates demand but you are actually paying this years rates and
next years rates therefore more like 1/6 of the rates bill paid monthly
for 12 months doubeling the sum demanded

the 25/26 rates have not been struck yet it appears that you are
collecting them in advance

please provide all documentatio and discussion which relates to the
decison to make those paying on direct debit pay two years rates in one
year and also provide documents to show what happens at the end of a year
does it mean that there are no rates to pay end august 2025

Yours faithfully,

Grace Haden

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
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requests to Hawke&#x27;s Bay Regional Council? If so, please contact us
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page.

show quoted sections

Thank you for your email. We are currently experiencing high volumes of
email and telephone activity, and will respond to your query as soon as we
can. To enable us to reply to you more quickly, please do not resend your
original email, or leave additional messages on our telephone voicemail.
 
We appreciate your assistance, and thank you for your patience.

Evening Grace

 

Many thanks for your email.

 

Please find attached a link to a copy of Council's Rate Resolution that
sets out the date on which rates are due in accordance with Section 24 of
the Local Government (Rating) Act. Page 12 clearly sets out 20 September
2024 as Council’s due date for the 2024/25 rating year.

 

[1]Minutes of Extraordinary Hawke's Bay Regional Council meeting -
Wednesday, 10 July 2024 (infocouncil.biz)

 

I strongly disagree with your assertion that our Direct Debit is not open
and transparent. As illustrated in my previous email, the ratepayer has a
clear choice when selecting which DD payment option they’d prefer, or
indeed choose another payment method.

 

Furthermore it is noted in the DD page itself under ‘Things to know’ as
highlighted below that quite clearly advise that the initial payment may
be higher in order to clear the rates by the due date.

 

 

Once the DD is set up, a letter is sent to the ratepayer informing them of
the amount to be collected, the frequency and the account the payment is
to be taken from. They can cancel the DD at no cost if they decide it’s
not for them or they decide that paying rates in advance is not for them.

 

Our DD option is a voluntary payment method: it is not mandatory.
Approximately 35% use this method and appear happy to use it. 65% choose
not to which is there free choice. All ratepayers are treated the same
with the requirement to pay their rates by the due date. If any ratepayer
(whether they be on DD or via other methods) is unable to make payment by
the due date, we are happy to set up a suitable arrangement and apply a no
penalty block to ensure they are not penalised.  

 

Whilst legislation only requires an invoice to be delivered 14 days prior
to the due date (Section 48), we acknowledge the need to give our
ratepayers as much notice as possible, and endeavour to get our invoices
out to ratepayers as soon as we can.  We are not able to get them out any
earlier as a) we rely on rating information being passed to us by each
territorial authority and b) we can not send out invoices prior to council
formally adopting its rates resolution. Various testing and checking is
then undertaken to ensure our data is accurate as possible before NZ Post
then print and send our invoices on our behalf.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any further
assistance.

 

Regards

Rates Team

 

 

 

 

Ashley Humphrey
Rates Lead
06 835 9200
Hawke's Bay Regional Council | Te Kaunihera ā-rohe o Te Matau a Māui
159 Dalton Street, Napier 4110 | [2]hbrc.govt.nz
Enhancing Our Environment Together | Te Whakapakari Tahi I Tō Tātau
Taiao
  [3][IMG] [4][IMG] [5][IMG]

Let us know how we’re doing, [6]give your feedback here.
    This communication, including any attachments, is confidential. Refer
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