Tourism Targeted Rate a year on: Council comments
The Tourism Targeted Rate (TTR) for has been in force for one full year now, and it has been the subject of recent public debate. The GB Weekly submitted some questions to council for their comments, and these were supplied by council’s communications adviser, Chris Choat.
GBW: What is the current level of the Targeted Rate?
CC: $125 (excluding GST) dropping for the 2011/12 year to $100 (excluding GST). Last year council changed the criteria for deciding which properties should pay the TTR. The new criteria will be retained for the 2011/2012 year. The additional revenue collected was council’s contribution to Nelson Tasman Tourism (NTT), enabling it to receive a subsidy from central government for destination marketing activities. Council is proposing to reduce the funding for destination marketing, which will reduce the targeted tourism rate from $125.78 in 2010/2011 to $100 in 2011/2012.
CC: The funding generated from the tourism targeted rate is additional to the $314,253 council contributes as a “public good” from the general rate for other tourism-related activities, for example the provision of public information centres.
GBW: How much has TDC collected by way of the TRT?
CC: This year is yet to be finalised; however, we are looking at $125,000. Next year we are looking at $98,000.
GBW: What coverage of liable properties does TDC achieve?
CC: Council is confident that all, or very nearly all, businesses identified have been covered. The latest categories of holiday homes are still being assessed.
GBW: Are properties being added from time to time or is the list fairly static?
CC: Properties are added as their use changes, and the number increases or decreases accordingly, but we don’t invoice people until it has been established that a property is liable. That’s what the statutory declaration is all about. It has been reported elsewhere that we send out invoices and make people prove that they’re not required to pay. That’s not true.
GBW: Please explain the use codes and category codes on the Quotable Value documents that council uses to determine whether a property is liable.
CC: The codes describe the use of the property; for example 51 is entertainment, 53 is active outdoor, 81 is retail. Properties tagged CL are liquor outlets, CS are service stations, etc.
GBW: How does a property get taken off the list if its use changes?
CC: The owners write to us and we take it off.
GBW: How are properties added to the list? Do people dob each other in? Do TDC staff go out and look for signs or ads or trawl through websites?
CC: Predominantly we use the QV notification, the Nelson Tasman Tourism list of people advertising and the statutory declarations.
GBW: How much staff time is used for this work?
CC: It is included in the current rating officer’s workload.
GBW: By how much would everybody’s rates increase by if the TRT was abandoned and the money was raised by rating everyone in the district?
CC: There is currently a general rating component that council applies to the activities of NTT. It’s approximately 1.2 per cent of total rating revenue. That’s the contribution all ratepayers make. The Tourism Targeted Rate money is used by NTT for specific destination marketing. It’s an extra, it’s dedicated to a specific project—in this case destination marketing. Council feels that the people who derive the benefit from the specific initiative should bear the cost.
GBW: People argue that it’s inequitable for a tiny business to pay the same amount as a large one and that it’s hard to draw a straight line between the activities of NTT and the arrival of tourists at a vintage machinery museum, a private garden or a rented bach in Golden Bay. Others say that the criteria are too narrow. If a non-food, non-drink, non-petrol, non-accommodation/tourism/transport business gets busier in summer, should it be paying the TRT? If it should, how does TDC go about deciding what “busier” means? Once we get into that, we’re pretty close to saying that nearly all of us in the district benefit, directly or indirectly, from tourism and therefore should help to pay TDC’s share of NTT’s costs.
CC: See my comments about the general rate component of council’s contribution to NTT.
GBW: People ask what they get for their financial support of NTT. Council must try to ensure that NTT’s efforts produce some direct benefits for the people who pay the rates. How does council do that?
CC: NTT regularly reports to the council, providing in addition a Statement of Intent and Business Plan which is reported against. Council has also requested that NTT engages with members of the tourism sector to hear their views and consult on meeting their requirements.
Neil Wilson
