An innovative idea to jump Rodney’s road sealing queue has proved too costly to pursue.
Earlier this year, landowners in Wright Road/Quiet Rise in Matakana and Anderson Road/Westminster Glen in Warkworth approached Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers to ask how much it would cost to seal sections of these roads via their own targeted rate.
None of the roads are on Auckland Transport’s priority list to be sealed for more than a decade – Anderson Road is ranked 36 and Wright Road is 154th. Cr Sayers says the idea of a group of residents privately funding their sealing projects had not been raised before.
A questionnaire was circulated to ascertain what sort of support there might be for the targeted rate.
About 80 per cent of landowners from Anderson Road/Westminster Glen signed a letter supporting a rate to seal 730 metres.
In Wright Road/Quiet Rise support was even more enthusiastic, with 90 per cent of residents supporting a targeted rate to seal 1200 metres of road.
Cr Sayers asked Auckland Transport (AT) to cost the work on the residents’ behalf.
But the costs that came back changed people’s points of view.
They were told it would cost every property owner in Anderson Road/Westminster Glen $955 annually for 20 to 30 years to seal 730m, while Wright Road/Quiet Rise property owners would face a hefty $1400 annually for 20 to 30 years to seal 1200m.
“When AT presented these figures, the reaction from landowners in both areas was the same,” Cr Sayers says. “Support for the targeted rate fell to just over 50 per cent.
“Auckland Council subsequently declined introducing the targeted rate due to the low level of acceptance.
Cr Sayers says the targeted rate option will remain available to the community to reconsider at any time in the future. However, Council would need the support of more than 90 per cent of all property owners before it would instruct AT to seal the road.
“People are already paying their general rates and their roads should be being sealed from those payments.
“The Rodney Local Board collects more than $40 million per 10-year period by already charging ratepayers an additional targeted rate to address transport needs, of which zero is spent on roading or road sealing. This ignores public feedback from rural ratepayers, who pay $20 million of that money and who want the money spent on road sealing,” he says.
“It was astute for the landowners to seek the costings but it’s far too expensive to seal roads privately, even if the cost is shared and paid off over many years.”
Cr Sayers is calling on the Mayor to spend at least $12.5 million annually on road sealing in Rodney, every year for the next 10 years. Currently, the Mayor’s budget allocation is $1 million a year.
A revised 10-year budget will be released for public feedback in February.
