How Whanganui achieved lowest rates in the country

RNZ News

7 hours ago

Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe says the council is looking beyond the short-term and planning for the future.
Photo:
LDR / Moana Ellis
Whanganui's average rates increase of 2.2 percent for the year ahead is the lowest in the country.
Mayor Andrew Tripe says the low figure is the envy of the country and the payoff in a sustained drive to adjust how the council operates.
"[It] didn't happen by accident - it's the result of a deliberate strategy to keep costs under control," Tripe said.
"Many of the savings are structural and will flow through to future years. We expect there will be opportunities to reduce the 2026/27 rates increase as well."
In a survey by Local Democracy Reporting on average rates for 2025/26 throughout the country, Waitomo District Council had the next lowest rates at 2.9 percent, and Bay of Plenty Regional Council was third lowest in the country at 3.0 percent.
Five councils - Upper Hutt City, Waipa District, Hamilton City, Hastings District and Clutha District - were looking at jumps of 15-17 percent.
The average rates hike is about 8.7 percent, compared with last year's 14 percent.
In his first tilt at local government in 2022, Tripe's successful campaign for the mayoralty included driving efficiencies to reduce the rates burden.
A six-point plan was developed early in the electoral term to reduce costs and ease reliance on rates.
As well as improving efficiency, the plan looked at reducing services, finding alternative funding for projects, identifying non-rates sources of revenue, and growing the population so there were more households to pitch in on rates.
"The plan has taken a while to get some traction, however the benefits of that approach are now starting to show," Tripe said.
The savings drive led to works and services being deferred, scaled back or cut but Tripe said investment in infrastructure had been prioritised.
Variations to the long-term plan included Tripe's push to ditch a planned food scrap collection, reducing rates by $1 million or about 1.5 percent, he said.
Council restructuring saved $1.2m a year.
Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe.
Photo:
Aka Creative
Deferrals included pushing out by a year a $1m grant for Whanganui Surf Lifesaving Service's rescue centre. The project was not at the stage where funding was needed, Tripe said.
An $8m of planned spending on an opera house upgrade was delayed to await a business case.
The Waitahinga Quarry development project was deferred while the council focused on other projects, and all council vehicle replacements have been deferred for the year.
A planned full review of the district plan has also been deferred, saving $700,000. Tripe said the council was no longer required to conduct a full review of the plan following central government's decision to make changes to the Resource Management Act.
Non-rates income was expected to increase by almost 20 percent in the year ahead.
"We are expecting higher fee revenue in some activities such as parking and aquatics.
"We have moderated our property renewals budget down for affordability and to ensure we can deliver the planned programme.
"Three waters capital programmes have been moderated to ensure that they are deliverable in the 2025/26 financial year."
The council had also made minor reductions to venues improvement budgets and optimised corporate budgets for items like IT hardware replacements.
It was committed to "investing solidly" in core infrastructure, with more than 80 percent of capital spending earmarked over the next 10 years for the likes of footpaths, roading, and stormwater.
There was also an 11 percent increase in infrastructure spending from 2024/25.
The council also tightened spending on insurance cover by taking a risk-based approach on property and removing some assets from its insurance schedule.
The council has forecast an unbalanced budget of $5.5 million for 2025/26 due to increased depreciation costs from inflation and large new assets like the redeveloped Sarjeant Gallery and wastewater treatment plant.
"While we are repaying debt on these long-life assets, we believe it's not fair for current ratepayers to also fund future replacements. Running an unbalanced budget is prudent in the short-term."
Tripe said the council's balance sheet was strong, debt was under control and additional repayments were being made to loans.
Asked how these decisions would affect long-term planning, Tripe said the council was looking beyond the short-term and planning for the future.
"We're creating a strategy for Whanganui with five goals: to grow, build for, protect, celebrate and activate Whanganui."
This included plans to establish a standalone entity to improve housing stock and allocating an extra $590,000 toward debt repayment, on top of existing repayments.
Paying down debt more quickly would benefit future generations, Tripe said.
"This equates to 0.7 percent of the 2.2 percent average rates increase."
Asked if he was confident the council was investing adequately in the district's future, Tripe said Whanganui was faring well in a difficult national economy.
"We should be excited about our future. Whanganui has a fantastic range of facilities for our community and the council is committed to maintaining these and ensuring that the infrastructure is in place for Whanganui to continue to be a great place to live, work and visit."
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air