Taupō district councillors have had some tough decisions to make to keep the rates figure at or near the 8.3 per cent forecast for the financial year beginning 1 July 2025.

The final proposed average rates increase of 8.4 per cent that councillors discussed at the Taupō District Council meeting yesterday is 0.1 per cent higher than forecast in the Long-term Plan 2024-34 which was adopted on 30 September 2024.

The 8.4 per cent figure is an average only and the actual amount of the rates increase will vary from property to property depending on where it is and what it is used for.

Unplanned cost increases including the costs associated with central government’s Local Water Done Well reforms and increases in the cost of insurance, finance costs, depreciation and committed contracts such as solid waste, security and cleaning services contributed over $2 million to Council’s costs in the upcoming financial year. Mayor David Trewavas says this would have resulted in a rates increase of 10.2 per cent which would have been unacceptable to the community. Staff have responded by looking for savings and efficiencies, and delaying or slowing down projects to bring the figure back in line with the Long-term Plan projections.

Mr Trewavas says in last year’s Long-term Plan consultation, the community asked Council to focus on and deliver essential services. The budget reductions and project trade-offs being proposed will not materially impact Council’s levels of service. They will though mean some planned additional activities and services such as reserve management plans, feature planting and landscaping projects, community hall wi-fi installation, demolition of aging buildings, some rural mowing and vegetation control and proactive tree management projects are now delayed until the following year.

Mr Trewavas says that some council work set out in council’s Long-term Plan will not be delivered in the upcoming year and this was the trade-off that had to be made to keep the rates increase at or near the forecast figure.

The proposed rates increase will be formally confirmed by councillors at a meeting in late June.

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