Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund is Open for Applications

The Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund is open to Thames-Coromandel District Council residents, ratepayers or small business owners, and not-for-profit organisations who have suffered financial hardship because of damages caused by the Cyclone Gabrielle weather event.

The Fund may be used to support and meet the needs of affected individuals, families, community organisations, small businesses and marae.

It can be used to provide financial support for:

• Cleaning debris from properties where people are uninsured or underinsured
• Supporting individuals/families faced with hardships as a result of the emergency
• Assisting small businesses impacted by the emergency
• Assisting people with basic needs, household goods and personal items where the individual/family is uninsured or underinsured
• Assisting with insurance excess payments

The aim of the fund is to help alleviate the emotional and financial stress experienced by individuals and families as a result of the event. The fund provides one off assistance for extraordinary circumstances, where a real need can be shown.

The fund is a last resort measure when people have exhausted other appropriate sources such as Work and Income New Zealand, EQC and other government agencies.

We’re grateful to the government for funding an initial contribution of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help flood affected communities in our district. This is the start of a raft of assistance packages we’re seeking as work through recovery of these extreme weather events.

– Mayor Len Salt, Thames Coromandel District Council. 

The closing date for applying to the fund is 10 March 2023.

Once closed, all applications will be assessed and available funds will be allocated proportionately to applicants that meet the criteria. The amount available to each applicant that meets the criteria is $1,000 or $2,500. The amount granted will depend on the circumstances of the applicant.

Applications for assistance must be made in writing on the Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund application form, available both as an online form or printable PDF.

Further information supporting the application may be requested.

Ways to apply:

• Online - fill in the online form on the Thames Coromandel District Council website 
• Email - Send applications and supporting information by email to customer.services@tcdc.govt.nz with ‘Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund Application’ in the subject line. Download the fillable PDF application form, save it, fill it in, and attach it to your email.
• Post - Download the fillable PDF application form, save it, fill it in, and post it to us at the following address:

Mayoral Disaster Relief Fund, Thames-Coromandel District Council, Private Bag 1001, THAMES 3540

• In person - Download the fillable PDF application form, save it, fill it in, and bring it in to any Council service centres or public libraries along with any additional documents. Copies will also be available at each of these locations.

Download the PDF application form.

If you require assistance to complete the form, please call 07 8680200 and speak to Council customer service personnel or visit Council service centres or public libraries.

Rates relief in stormy times 

Council is assisting to help property-owners whose homes have been badly damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle. Properties that have been deemed uninhabitable (red stickered) are being granted a rates remission. Usually, Council asks homeowners to apply for this. In the case of Cyclone Gabrielle, Council is automatically granting a rates remission during the period people’s properties are officially marked as uninhabitable. 

In addition, Council is extending the payment date for the current rates payments for all ratepayers, because of the weather-related obstacles to delivering rates notices and the difficulty for people to find ways to make payments with power and road disruptions. The date from which a late-payment penalty will be applied for this instalment is being pushed out from 22 February 2023 to 15 March 2023. 

Links for business information and assistance

• IRD’s tax relief for emergency events
• BusinessExtreme Weather Info
• Xero’s Assistance Programme
• First Steps for business community wellbeing support

A message from Mayor Len Salt

“On Wednesday, I stood in the EOC operations centre with Transport Minister Michael Wood and watched as Civil Defence Controller Garry Towler led his team of 150 personnel from around the district through the morning briefing. I've never been more proud of our people, or more grateful for their selfless contributions.  

Please continue to have patience and empathy while our council, contractors and other agencies like PowerCo continue to try and restore essential services. Have some empathy for our people on the ground who have been working day and night to get things back to some semblance of normality. Right now and over the weekend and into next week our focus is on welfare, getting medicines, food and water to vulnerable and isolated communities and opening up access routes.

At the same time our hearts also go out to the people of Tairawhiti, Napier, Wairoa, Hastings and all of the other districts that have been so hard. I’ve reached out to the Mayors’ in these districts to see how we can help them. They did the same for us when Cyclone Gabrielle was upon us.

Cyclone Gabrielle has been tough for everybody in our district. It followed five weeks of severe storm events and record-breaking rain. Our emergency roading budget was wiped out in the November storm. We’re now using retained earnings to pay for roading repairs. We’ve still got four months to go before the end of the financial year and the well is running dry.

That’s the stark reality of our situation. We’ve urged the Government for urgent assistance with the roading subsidy and support on many other levels.

The impact on our roading and infrastructure has been severe and we continue to work through that. We’re resourceful people in the Coromandel, but the longer term effects are what have our Council concerned.

Central government needs to commit to a huge investment into our roading resilience and infrastructure capabilities, on a scale never seen before.

This is now a critical conversation which goes to the heart of our economic and social well-being as a community. And it has to be an “all party” commitment. Politicians from all sides need to commit to making the investments in our communities, and to working together to make it happen. Any politician who isn’t prepared to make that commitment isn’t welcome in my office.

Our economic and social well-being depends on reliable access to services and amenities. We have had three cabinet ministers visit in the last three weeks and that message has been relayed to the government in the strongest possible terms.

The first funds have already arrived in our Mayoral Relief Fund, which we open today.

The real support needed will be tens of millions in the short term and hundreds of millions in the long term as we manage the effects of climate change.

Our Council started work on this three years ago with the Shoreline Managment Plan programme. We ramped up the urgency in the week before Cyclone Hale, and with each passing week the need for a long term solutions has become more evident and more urgent.

This is going to be a long journey, with some difficult conversations and decisions along the way. We’re in this together, and there’s never been a more important need for that spirit of Coromandel resilience and support for each other to continue. Thank you."