A household in a rented house with at least two years by 2023 approximately 324 euros, water board 296 euros this. A single person in a rented house in 2023 almost 200 euros in a owner-occupied house more than 250 euros (currently 233 euros).

Owners of nature reserves are expected to receive a much more substantial increase, of no less than 58.5 percent. This year they pay 2.24 euros per hectare, next that rate will go to 3.55 euros.

On Wednesday, the general board of the water board approved next year’s budget, including taxes. This is happening in a meeting in which the fear is expressed that more tax increases will follow in the coming years, because the water board is struggling and has little resistance.

Duplicate descriptions

Water board taxes are the water board’s source of income, which is struggling with large arrears in collecting them. That is a consequence of IT chaos at Waternet, the implementing organization of the water board. The faltering introduction of a new system for collecting drinking water rates has led to incorrect and sometimes double depreciation among residents. The municipality of Amsterdam and not the water board is responsible for the drinking water tax.

There are no incorrect assessments for water board taxes. Due to the arrears in collection, the organization is struggling with significant liquidity problems. To prevent it from ending up too deep in the red, additional borrowing is also required in 2023.

The Amstel, Gooi water board already has the highest costs of all the water boards in the Netherlands and is heading for a deficit of 2.9 million euros for this year. The total debt burden amounts to more than 800 million euros, almost four times as much as the water board receives annually in net taxes. Other water boards find no more than 2.5 times acceptable.

Taking care of the province

The province of North Holland is the supervisor. There are concerns about the debt of the water board, said position of the Provincial Executive on questions from The Parool last month: ‘We have raised these concerns several times with the water board in recent years. In our last letter about the water board’s budget, we informed the board of the debt position.’