An error with the Wairoa District Council's formula for setting the district's rates has alarmed ratepayers who were expecting a 4.9 per cent average increase, but instead found themselves faced with a 7 per cent average increase.
At a meeting last week councillors were asked to approve resetting the rates for the year ending June 2018, to bring the increase back into line with the public and councillor expectations.
Acting chief executive John Freeman said the 4.9 per cent increase was taken to the public for consultation and followed what was in the Long Term and Annual Plans, but then an omission was made when conducting the manual formula to get the average.
"The staff and councillors were unaware that the figure was actually 7 per cent. The numbers in urban areas started coming through with increases of 9 to 11 per cent and alarm bells started ringing and it became clear that the issue was widespread."
He said members of the public started coming to the council questioning why they were seeing such high figures.