Paying for the Plan

The projects in the Long Term Plan are funded through rates and fees charged directly to users.

What are rates?

Rates are charged on properties in our district and they are the main way the Council funds the work it does for the community. User charges and other revenue also help us pay for the services the Council delivers.

How much are rates going up?

The LTP sets out an average 5.3 per cent increase across the 10 years – we have been able to smooth rates increases to provide certainty and avoid some years with much larger increases than others. About half of the increase each year of the LTP are due to inflation.

What about inflation over time?

We have built inflation into our Plan based on forecast inflation rates advised by BERL (Business and Economic Research Limited). BERL provides the local government cost index information for all Councils to apply in our long-term plans. See our Significant Assumptions Part 3 for more information.

What about changes in interest rates for lending time?

We have forecast interest rates on our debt-based on our current costs in year 1 and then financial market projections which are for interest rates to remain low (an average of 3% or below) for the duration of this ten-year Plan. See our Significant Assumptions Part 3 for more information.

How do the QV revaluations impact rates?

Our rating system uses property valuations as one of a number of tools to allocate rates between properties.

Revaluations are carried out by Quotable Value every 3 years – this process is independent of the Council. When a revaluation occurs, the Council recalculates the rates-per-dollar of value required to collect the total rates income that is needed in the budget. The valuations are used to determine each property’s share of the rates – rates do not simply increase by the percentage increase of valuations.

If all valuations in the district increased by the same percentage, every property’s rates would only change by the percentage of the Council’s budget increase. Where a property’s valuation increases by less than the average increase, they can expect to pay a lower share of the total rates the Council needs. Where a property’s valuation increases by more than the average increase for the district, the property owner can expect to pay a higher share of the total rates the Council needs.

New valuations will be used for rates calculation in the new financial year, which starts on 1 July 2021. There is high variability of valuation changes this year, so typical rates increases are difficult to predict.

Please enquire with the Council our use the property search to find out what your property’s rates increase will be.