Napier facing rates rises of nearly 12 per cent as cyclone costs soar

Bay View, near Napier, under floodwaters caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Warren Buckland

By Lauren Crimp of RNZ

Napier homeowners are facing a rates hike of almost 12 per cent, in part to help fund the council’s Cyclone Gabrielle recovery efforts.

The rise follows a 9.8 per cent jump last year, which was the biggest in 20 years.

Napier City Council is to consider an 11.7 per cent increase from 1 July at its meeting on Thursday.

The meeting’s agenda showed this would be made up of a 9.7 per cent increase - a cap that had already been set out in the long term plan - and a new 2 percent “disaster recovery rate”, designed to fund a $1.5 million Cyclone Gabrielle recovery budget in the 2023/24 annual plan.

“The immediate and ongoing impact the cyclone has had on our community and the region as a whole has resulted in new costs,” it said.

“The extent of most of these costs remains uncertain at the time of writing this report, but are likely to include items such as rates remissions, resilience planning, recovery costs,” it said.

The law allows councils to set a rate not budgeted in the long-term plan if they decide it was needed to: “Meet an unforeseen and urgent need for revenue that cannot be reasonably met by any other means”.

Further work was needed to confirm how the budget would be used, but the documents said it would be ring-fenced solely for the recovery.

No public consultation on annual plan

The rates increase comes as part of the proposed 2023/24 annual plan.

There was no need for council to put the plan out for public consultation as they usually would, officers advised, because it had not changed significantly from the existing long term plan. New rates like the proposed disaster recovery rate did not require consultation under law.

Instead they said council should undertake “light engagement” by informing the community, and giving them the opportunity to ask questions.