'Unpalatable' 9 per cent rates increase proposed for Tasman

Residents can have their say from Wednesday on Tasman District Council’s proposal of an average 9.06 per cent rates increase.

Public consultation on the rates proposal, the main change to council’s annual plan for the 2023/24 year, will run until the end of April.

“I don’t think anyone wants to be sitting here, having a conversation [about] or suggesting a 9.06… per cent rate increase,” Mayor Tim King said. “Looking around the country, there is a variation, but there are an awful lot of councils facing very similar decisions to us.”

Like everyone else, councils are grappling with rising interest rates and inflationary pressures which makes it difficult to keep rates increases low.

“As unpalatable as 9.06 per cent is, I recognise the work that we did to get down to 9.06 per cent,” said councillor Brent Maru.

The starting point was a 20 per cent increase. Councillors and staff worked that figure down to 9.06 per cent through a series of workshops.

Maru said, in times of high rates increases, many people in the community feel that council should peel its services right back to the basics.

But he thought cutting back spending on what he feels are “key components” of council’s programme, like community grants and supporting local facilities, would have greater ramifications for the region than the benefit from those savings.

Councillor Christeen Mackenzie said she would “rather not” have to discuss a rates increase of 9.06 per cent but thinks “kicking the can down the road” to give greater costs to residents further down the line wasn’t the solution.

“We have to be taking into account that today’s ratepayers are also future ratepayers.”

King echoed her views, also referencing the 0 per cent rates increase during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020/21 and the lower rates paid in the past.

“For everyone who’s paying rates, just one year is not the full story. It’s what you paid previously, and what you will have to pay in the future. They’re both equally important.”

To help lower the increase, day-to-day operating budgets have been reduced, fewer staff will be hired, and fees and charges have increased among other measures.

Some further options considered by council that aren’t being proposed at this stage include cutting subsidies for recreational school pool use in summer, cancelling the community grants scheme, and not funding depreciation costs.

However now is the time for residents to have their say on whether they agree with the council’s proposals.

“There is some room to move,” King said.

Copies of the consultation document, complete with the reasoning behind why funding is proposed to be cut in some areas and not others, will be available at council’s service centres and libraries, and can be found online at shape.tasman.govt.nz.

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