Why are rates increasing
The current cost of living crisis is putting pressure on whānau right across the country, including in our district.
Costs have risen for councils as well, whether it’s for fuel, concrete, insurance, interest, or other things we need to purchase for delivering services and facilities. You’ll see in the news many councils are having to increase rates significantly in response and unfortunately, Whanganui District Council is facing this reality as well.
In order to keep up with rising costs, we need to increase our rates next year. The rates rise for Whanganui was initially estimated at close to 17 percent, but after a lot of hard mahi and deferrals wherever possible, we are now at 10.6 percent.
As always, the rates-setting process will need to strike a balance – making sure we can keep rates affordable while investing in our people and district to build momentum going into the future.
For next financial year (from 1 July 2024), many councils across the country will be grappling with having to increase rates over twenty percent. Our council has comparatively low debt and over the years we’ve put good investment into maintaining assets, including our water infrastructure. This means we have a great foundation to build on to see our district prosper in the coming years. Our future's looking bright – we just have to get through this tough economic time together.
Please be assured we're doing the best we can to find other ways to cut or cover costs so we don’t burden our ratepayers. Our team has closely reviewed all of the council’s projects to identify alternative sources of funding, such as funding from the central government. Mayor Andrew is also writing to the new government ministers responsible for local government, infrastructure, regional development and tertiary education asking them to address pressures on local councils and ratepayers. Councils need to be strengthened, not weakened, by government policies and decisions.
You can look at the proposed rates for 2024/25 for your own specific property here
Read the Long-Term Plan Consultation Document(PDF, 12MB)