Rates Increase - Consultation Now Closed

Consultation now closed.

Why are we consulting?

For the upcoming Annual Plan 2023-24, Council is proposing a preferred rates rise of 13.18%, which is almost double the projected 6.7 percent rise originally signalled in our Long-term Plan. That is the reason for this consultation with you. Council has looked at this from every possible angle to ensure that our decision is well-informed and in the best interests of the community. This proposed rates' rise is necessary to ensure the continued provision of vital services and infrastructure that the community relies on. We believe that we cannot afford to delay action any longer and stepping up investment in our infrastructure and services, and the systems, processes and staff that support them now is crucial to safeguarding the quality of life in our community.

We know that this will be challenging for many. We will be providing a range of opportunities for you to have your say, including community meetings, online feedback forms, and one-on-one meetings.

We would like to thank you for your participation in this important consultation process. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas on whether you agree with our approach, whether our priorities are appropriate, and what you consider important. Your input will help us improve our work and better serve our community

Annual Plan 2023/24

This Annual Plan has been one of the hardest plans to work through. The difficulty in this year’s Annual Plan round is that there are so many factors that have come into play, many of which are beyond our control.

The challenges include increasing interest payments on our debt, high inflation which is pushing up the price of goods and services, disruptions in the supply chain, and the ongoing increase in compliance and regulations that Local Government must keep up with. Then there is also the fact that much of our infrastructure is already ageing and under-performing, which means we’ll have to replace or significantly upgrade it in the coming years. The first run of budgeting had an increase of over 20%.

We have looked at every single Council operating cost and rationalised budgets as much as we can. We have looked hard at every service, programme and project on our books to find areas where spending can be reduced, or we can delay non-essential work. We have moved towards a user-pay system, where people pay for a service, without being subsidised by other ratepayers.

Applying all of the factors above would result in an increase in rates, on average, of 16.72%.

This has created significant tension between delivering the services that you expect and considering the affordability of the rates to our community. We understand that you have increasing costs as well and that leaving the rates rise at this level would put pressure on the community.

To reduce the rates increase, your Council has looked at what we could do to reduce the increase and propose not funding depreciation as we normally would as part of the Long-term Plan.

What is depreciation funding?

Depreciation funding is a way to account for the wear and tear of assets such as bridges, roads, parks, and water treatment plants over time. These assets need to be renewed or replaced eventually, and depreciation helps to calculate the cost of this process. By funding this depreciation through rates each year, ratepayers can contribute their fair share towards the use of these assets, both currently and in the future.

Where do your rates go?

For approximately every $100 collected is allocated to these services.

This graphic shows the range of services that the 2023/24 rates will go towards. Some of them may not be obvious to you.

What do we propose to change?

By reducing the funding of depreciation by $1.059m, the rates increase reduces, on average, to 13.18%. The reduction in depreciation funding would be rated for over the next 10 years so that future generations are not paying for the costs of today.

Your Council has looked at this Annual Plan from every angle and have concluded if we were to reduce our rates any further than the proposed 13.18%, we would compromise our ability to make vital maintenance and improvements that we, and our mokopuna - future generations, desperately need. The reality is that keeping rates low is simply no longer feasible if we want to maintain the level of service asked for in previous LTPs.

We are asking you, our community, to help us make some tough decisions. These decisions, and the options, are laid out here for you. Please read and consider it carefully and let us know your thoughts as we find a way through the challenges we face in this Annual Plan.

Rate Impact Examples

These examples are from the sample set of ratepayers used by Council in modelling the impacts of rating scenarios.

Council will send out sample rates invoices as part of the consultation process to each ratepayer, to indicate the proposed rates for Annual Plan 2023/24 compared to current rates.