Whanganui district councillor David Bennett has floated the possibility of the council becoming a unitary authority, taking on regional council responsibilities in place of Horizons Regional Council.
The district council's policy and governance manager Stephanie Macdonald-Rose produced a report on the possibility for the council's strategy and finance committee, mainly based on preliminary investigations done in 2009.
That report investigated Whanganui and Ruapehu each becoming separate unitary authorities — as Auckland, Tasman, Gisborne, Nelson City, Marlborough and the Chatham Islands are.
The report said at least an extra $2.5 million (in place of Whanganui people paying Horizons rates) would have to be gathered in rates if Whanganui were to take on those extra regional functions.
While Bennett wasn't at the meeting to discuss the report, councillor Alan Taylor and Whanganui Rural Community Board representative Grant Skilton both said rural people were discontented with "being lumped in with Manawatū" under Horizons Regional Council, and a district council could do the same tasks.