Interested councils

The Rates Postponement Consortium encourages all councils to join the Rates Postponement Scheme.

The impact of an ageing population is growing nationally and internationally, and this will have an affect on all councils trying to juggle infrastructure needs and affordability for their ratepayers. Offering this scheme is one way councils can influence the disposable income of their ratepayers.

The consortium has developed generic principles for the scheme, as discussed in “about the scheme”. In developing the scheme, the consortium has considered a number of council issues including:

• Individual council policies – each council in the scheme can have flexibility around their own policy, for example regarding eligibility and conditions of postponement.

• Risk management – a reserve fund has been established to meet any shortfalls in the repayment of the rates and charges. The scheme also requires all properties to be insured to manage the risk to the council.

• Actuarial services – an independent actuary was engaged to develop a financial model for the scheme. The model incorporates assumptions on mortality, interest rates and charges, rates increases and increases in the value of land and improvements. This then gives councils the ability to predict accumulated charges at any point in time and can be used to check eligibility. The model has recently been revised to incorporate the impact of the enhanced rates rebate scheme.

• Decision facilitation – all applicants are required to attend decision facilitation. This is to ensure applicants are given as much independent information about the scheme as possible, and also to protect councils from any suggestion of undue influence. Relationship Services provide this service for all applicants.

• Insurance – a group insurance scheme is currently being investigated, which will be compulsory for all applicants (if they are not currently insured). Currently councils require applicants to be privately insured.

RP Scheme Managers Ltd

RP Scheme Managers Ltd (a subsidiary of McKinlay Douglas Ltd) has been involved in developing the scheme with the Western Bay of Plenty District Council from the beginning. Their role is to support the consortium including the management all of the generic aspects of the scheme. They liaise with councils, manage the Relationship Services contract, liaise with stakeholders (such as government departments and interest groups) and develop any enhancements to the scheme.

Interested in more information?

If you would like to know more about the scheme, you can contact Peter McKinlay, Executive Director, RP Scheme Managers Ltd via email or phone him on (07) 579-4217.