Tauranga ratepayers face a proposed 12% rates rise from July, down from an initial 20%.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale said the council found $29 million in savings to reduce the increase.
Consultation on the Annual Plan will run from March 28 until April 28, with 18 events planned.
Tauranga ratepayers face a proposed overall rates rise of 12% from July, but the mayor says it could have been more than 20% if the council hadn’t found savings.
Tauranga City Council elected members voted on Monday to approve the draft Annual Plan for community consultation, beginning March 28.
The plan – which sets out budgets, rates and planned work for 2025/26 – is the first for the council, elected in July to replace Government-appointed commissioners.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale told the meeting a lot of what was in the Annual Plan was already in motion and couldn’t be changed.
When the council started work on the plan it was facing an overall rates increase of more than 20%, he said.
This was because the council wanted to “balance the books” and decided to fund $25 million in depreciation not included in the Long-Term Plan, he said.
Growth was not as strong as had been predicted, which meant the council needed to find $29 million in savings to get to 12%, Drysdale said.
He said he was still unhappy with 12% and the council would try to find a further $6.7m in savings to reduce rates by 2.5% more by the time the Annual Plan was adopted in June.
Tauranga Deputy Mayor Jen Scoular. Photo / Alisha Evans
Under the draft plan for consultation, a residential property worth $885,000 would pay about $394 (11.3%) more in rates for the year. (Scroll down for more estimates).
A commercial property valued at $1.23m would pay $1556 (17.7%) more in rates.
An industrial property valued at $2.3m would pay $2959 (16.8%) more in rates.
Deputy Mayor Jen Scoular said the community needed to be aware that the cost of running the city was $599m for the 2025/26 financial year.
“It’s expensive to run the city because it’s a complex beast.”
She also asked that the total staff costs be included in the consultation documents.
“Let’s be transparent, let’s be upfront.”
Welcome Bay councillor Hautapu Baker. Photo / David Hall
Councillor Hautapu Baker said he wanted to ensure the council engaged well with the community.
“In terms of general engagement approach or raising civic consciousness, in my mind, an annual plan process is one of the safest avenues to really get innovative with how we do that.”
There were generations of Tauranga families disengaged from civic consciousness, Baker said.
