Early Payment Discount On Rates Could Be Dropped

Thursday, 6 February 2025, 10:08 pm
Article: David Hill - Local Democracy Reporter

Waimakariri ratepayers will get to have their say on a proposal to drop an early payment discount on their rates.

After last week’s deliberations, the Waimakariri District Council settled on a proposed average rates rise of 4.98 percent in its draft 2025/26 annual plan.

The council plans to consult on a proposal to remove its early payment discount on rates, the delivery of water services, roading, development contributions and the council’s cost pressures, as it looks for cost savings.

Acting finance and business support general manager Greg Bell said staff are aware of only two other councils offering early payment discounts on rates.

Removing the discount would boost council coffers by nearly $195,000.

The Waimakariri, Hurunui and Kaikōura councils have been working together to explore models for managing three waters service, in line with the Government’s Local Water Done Well legislation.

The Waimakariri council had to revise its roading programme after it was left with a $13.5m shortfall when Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency funding was confirmed in October.

Mr Bell said the council faced growing cost pressures, as it looked to keep its rates rise down.

It needed to find an additional $360,000 from ratepayers to cover new Commerce Commission and Taumata Arowai (the Government’s water regulator) levies, which added 0.4% to the rates.

While inflation has dropped to 2.2%, council chief executive Jeff Millward said councils were impacted by construction costs rather than groceries, with local government inflation sitting at 3.1%.

‘‘We are a growth council, and generally growth councils can’t meet CPI (Consumer Price Index).

‘‘CPI for councils is not a reality, we run to Local Government Cost Index and it is impossible for us to meet that because we purchase an entirely different basket of goods.

‘‘You will hear a lot in the media about rate increases being too high, but it is important to put this in proper context.’’

The council was also continuing to repay its earthquake recovery and MainPower Stadium loans, which added around 2% a year to rates, Mr Gordon said.

‘‘We are committed to delivering on what we said we would through the Long Term Plan and are continually exploring opportunities to achieve greater value for money while providing the services that our community want.’’

The council plans to spend $61.2m on capital projects, less than the $80m budgeted in the Long Term Plan, while council debt is predicted to increase from $200m to $232m.

The reduced capital budget is due in part to the reduced roading budget.

The council will meet again on February 18 to adopt the draft annual plan, which will go out for consultation from March 14 to April 14.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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