Allegations are flying that Whakatane District Council are desperately trying to entrap Matata ratepayers into helping pay for sewerage schemes in Edgecumbe and Ohope.

In an Environment Court case currently underway in Tauranga, Sustainable Matata secretary Neville Harris says that the scheme is aimed at snaring ratepayers into helping pay the millions of dollars the district needs to find to upgrade sewerage programmes.

Matata coastal zone will be part of the planned sewerage scheme.

Neville alleges that WDC went against the recommendations of its own scheme review when they decided to go ahead with the $13.8 million Matata scheme, which attracts a government subsidy.

Sustainable Mata opposes the sewer project on several grounds, saying it is unsustainable, unaffordable and far more fragile than the existing septic tank system when it comes to surviving the next debris flow.

Studies since the 2005 event reveal the township is likely to suffer a repeat flow every 35 years or so. The proposed sewerage scheme has a 50-year lifespan, but Neville says it will be destroyed if it fills with silt through the vents required at each house's grinder pump installation.

Sustainable Matata says in its evidence that the scheme is not for the benefit of Matata's residents, but to enlist ratepayers onto the WDC's sewerage rate to help the council pay for other sewerage works in the district.

Edgecumbe's wastewater outfall currently fails to meet the Tarawera River plan requirements.

Rough estimates put the repair costs at $10-20 million and the current outfall consent is not going to be extended past the expiry date of 2026, the BOP Regional Council says. Kawerau's scheme does not put waste into the river.

Ohope's outlet is also to sea, but is in the process of being sorted out between the BOPRC and the WDC.

WDC has a debt limit of $75 million and already owes $60 million, says Neville, leaving a shortfall when it comes to paying for the required work.

'You put all these unsubsidised work costs together and you could be looking at an extra rates bill for a Matata pensioner of $1000 or more,” says Neville.

'This is an increase totally unaffordable for Matata residents on fixed incomes.”

'It is the sort of cost that will give Matata residents a rates rise of 50 per cent in just one item.”

Sustainable Matata's evidence suggests that the only affordable and sustainable option for Matata is to stay on septic tanks, and that the proposals are unsustainable and contrary to section two of the Resource Management Act.

WDC's claim is that it will now cost $55 plus GST per property in the district. But the WDC annual plan shows a sewerage rate of $196.45 plus GST.

When the Rangitaiki Ward of WDC tried to join the Kawerau District, it was found that the ratepayers pay $12 million in rates to WDC - only $9 million of which was spent in the ward, says Neville

'This ward is being used as a cash cow,” he adds.

'We are coming to the opinion that WDC is so desperate to prop up Whakatane and Ohope that it has falsely and maliciously created a need for sewerage in Matata so they have more ratepayers to impose increasing wastewater costs on.

'Whakatane has always worked as a town not a district council.

'The WDC's own lack of work and forethought has gotten it into the situation where major new disposal methods are needed for three of the WDC's wastewater plants, and the council only has a $15 million loan balance available, while it spends millions on non-core projects.”