Nelson’s rates rise locked in at 6.5%

Nelson’s rates will go up by an average of 6.5% from 1 July.

The increase is in line with what Nelson City Council signalled in the 10-year plan it adopted last year and meant it didn’t have to spend around $140,000 on further planning and consultation.

“We are a council that is acutely aware of the level of financial pressure on households, and the decision not to do large changes to the Long-Term Plan delivered a direct saving,” Mayor Nick Smith said.

The coming financial year would see the council’s focus shift from recovering from the August 2022 storm to the revitalisation of the city.

Nick said Nelson was further ahead in its recovery works than the other councils that were “whacked” by weather events in 2022 and 2023.

“The work is not all finished … but from a governance and management point of view, we’ve largely gone over that huge hump and that huge challenge.”

The upcoming year featured some “gutsy” work to revitalise central Nelson, Smith said.

He highlighted the significant upgrade of Bridge Street and the inner city’s underground water infrastructure, the transformation of the Millers Acre car park into a bus hub, and the Rutherford Park playspace project which was being led by local iwi in partnership with the council.

Deputy mayor Rohan O’Neill-Stevens said they were grateful that city revitalisation work was continuing, but offered the council a “solemn warning” as it approved the rates increase on Thursday afternoon.

“In achieving this rates increase … there has been a range of budgets cut to be able to do this,” they said.

“We know in the future, we will have to put it back in – particularly in areas like renewals, where the footpath doesn’t go away, the need to renew doesn't go away, we just wait a little longer to do it. But, ultimately, the cost is still borne by this council and by this community.”

Councillor Aaron Stallard supported the council’s annual plan but raised concerns about the scale of the surf lifesaving club facility, which is proposed to be built on the Tāhunanui Beach dunes and will “tower” over the beach, and hoped residents wouldn’t be barred from submitting on the proposed design.

The council is contributing around $1.65 million to the project.

The decision to increase rates by 6.5% was unanimous.

On Thursday, the council also agreed to increase most of its fees and charges by 2.2%, in line with inflation.

Neighbouring Tasman’s average rates are expected to increase by 8.9%, and most fees are slated to rise by 10%.