Tauranga City Council has begun testing the waters on whether to increase the targeted rate paid by commercial property owners to help fund economic development initiatives.
The issue was repeatedly raised yesterday when some city business leaders delivered their submissions to the council's 2015-25 Long Term Plan.
It generally received a cautious response, with several saying the council would need to show how businesses would benefit from raising the targeted rate.
Councillor Matt Cowley, who said he wanted to be involved in providing a "value proposition" to increase the targeted rate, indicated it would be for future budgets, not the financial year starting July 1.
He asked Tauranga Chamber of Commerce CEO Toni Palmer how far the council could go in increasing the rate, such as doubling or trebling it.
She said there was a fine balance between affordability and opportunity and putting businesses under economic pressure. The targeted rate would become an issue if businesses could not afford to pay.
Councillor John Robson said Tauranga was quite unusual in that business paid the same rate as residential ratepayers. He asked Trustpower CEO Vince Hawksworth whether he supported increasing the business rate so Trustpower could match its aspirations for the city centre.
Trustpower will be shifting from its headquarters at Te Maunga into the city centre early next year, once a new building in Durham St to house the company's 450 Tauranga staff was finished.
Mr Hawksworth highlighted the injection that 450 people would make into the downtown, saying a balance needed to be struck between increasing the rate and how growing businesses added jobs and vibrancy to the city.
Priority One CEO Andrew Coker said some businesses already paid tens of thousands in membership fees to Priority One - over and above the targeted rate levied by the council.