Porirua City Council Makes Budget Decisions
The Council's Te Puna Kōrero committee met this morning to deliberate on the Annual Plan, which sets the city's budget for the coming financial year.
When preparing the draft Annual Plan, the starting point for this year's rates increases had increased from the planned 10 per cent to 15 per cent, due to cost pressures.
Council acknowledged this wasn't sustainable for households and businesses, so took a hard look at internal operations to find cost savings. This process brought the new starting point for the average rates increase down to 6.75 per cent.
Council consulted on five options, which if adopted would decrease the rates increase even further. A total of 343 submissions were received, with a mix of opinions on the items on the table.
Committee Chair Councillor Ross Leggett thanked everyone who made submissions and shared their thoughts.
"Your feedback is shown in this paper and we do read and appreciate all of it," he said.
Of the options consulted on, the committee voted to discontinue the Chamber of Commerce grant and increase Council's building consent hourly rate.
They voted against increasing the paid parking hourly rate, putting up Cannons Creek Pool entry fees, and discontinuing the Event Investment Programme.
With these changes, the average rates increase for residential properties for the 2025/26 year will be 6.39 per cent, subject to confirmation by the full Council on 26 June.
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Mayor Anita Baker said everything possible was done to keep rates increases as low as possible.
"Nobody wants the big increases we saw last year and we know the community is struggling. The organisation has done a deep dive internally and made significant cuts that got us to a lower starting point than planned.
"In terms of the further cuts we could have made, we asked for feedback and we've listened to our people. That's why we are not supporting some of the ideas that were on the table."
Councillors spoke about the community benefits of swimming pools, the life that events bring to the city, and the need to support local businesses through keeping parking charges as they are.
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