Tauranga householders will need to find another $137 this year to meet proposed rate increases by the city and regional councils.
Draft budgets going out for public consultation this month will likely recommend a rates increase of $100 for a mid-range property - including GST and the doubling of the fixed water charge to $52.
An 11c increase in the water meter tariff would add another $20, with the other $17 coming from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
The $100 increase amounted to a 4.6 per cent rate rise to $2266 for a mid-range Tauranga property valued at $420,000.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council's 10 per cent draft increase would hoist its rate take to $186 on a Tauranga property with an average land value of $200,000.
Ratepayers living in Tauranga's rural neighbour, the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, were looking at a proposed average draft rate increase of 6 per cent, plus a further 18 per cent increase from the regional council of $27.
Tauranga Budget Advisory Service president Jo Gravit said the rate increases would be extremely hard for people on fixed incomes who owned their own homes. Rental owners eventually passed it on to tenants, although rents were generally set at the market rate.
Rates were reasonably predictable and it was the unpredictable costs, such as a car breakdown or sickness, that threw clients. People should not be paying more than a third of their incomes on housing but some clients were paying more than half on rents, she said.
Western Bay of Plenty District Council's corporate and planning services manager Miriam Taris said the 6 per cent increase could vary depending on whether it was a rural or urban ratepayer.
Residential ratepayers in the Western Bay district will shoulder a bigger share of the district rate following the significant drop in rural property values.
Last September's district-wide revaluation showed rural property values were hit much harder by the recession than residential values, with the Psa-affected horticultural sector taking the biggest blow as values fell by nearly 38 per cent.
Ms Taris said the district rate was usually split about 50/50 between rural and residential ratepayers. She anticipated the revaluations would mean residential ratepayers would collectively pay 4 to 5 per cent more of the rates take.
The district rate was a universal charge and was in addition to the large number of targeted rates.
She said large rural properties might have a rates decrease and she anticipated that some farmers and orchardists could be happy with the outcome of the council meeting in March.
Ms Taris said the council had tried to keep rate increases to a manageable level for residents by cutting back on many projects.
"The council is very mindful of the tough economic environment and the fact that many people are unemployed or on low fixed incomes."
The district has about 20,000 ratepayers and more than 100 different categories of rates. The district rate increased by 4.2 per cent in 2010-11 and by 4.3 per cent in 2011-12.
Western Bay ratepayer's opportunity to object to the increase would take place after the council's March 22 meeting while Tauranga's meeting to sign off its draft increase was on March 13.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council was looking at increasing its regional general rate by an average of about 12 per cent, with the final figure to be finalised on March 15.
The region's majority shareholding in the Port of Tauranga heavily subsidised the cost of its services to the community.
Insurance
Insurance fees for homeowners have increased by as much as 88 per cent in the past year.
An increase in the annual Earthquake Commission (EQC) levies for buildings on February 1 rose from $50 to $150. The levy for contents rose from $10 to $30.
In addition, homeowners have also seen a rise in premiums when opening or renewing policies, as insurance companies look to cover themselves against possible large-scale natural disasters in the future in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes.
Overseas reinsurers have upped their New Zealand fees and those costs have been passed on to New Zealand homeowners.
The EQC rise sees homeowners who previously paid 5c per $100 of insurance cover now pay 15c per $100, with an annual cap of $207 (including GST).
The levy rise adds about $2.65 a week to most homeowners' insurance bills but, when combined with premium increases, homeowners are now paying between 36-88 per cent more than they were this time last year.
Petrol
Petrol prices spiked in New Zealand to $2.19 a litre in July 2008, rising from $1.56 within six months. Since then, prices have fluctuated.
By December 2009, the main fuel companies were selling 91-octane petrol for $1.36 a litre, which was at the time the lowest price since the end of 2005. In March 2010 petrol prices hit a 16-month high, with prices reaching $1.83. December of the same year saw petrol prices reach two-year heights, hitting $1.89 a litre.
In May last year, the price for 91-octane reached a record high of $2.22 and for the duration of 2011 prices remained above $2 a litre.
Petrol pump prices are currently at $2.13 a litre, and are unlikely to drop back below $2 at any stage this year.
Since 2002, average residential electricity prices have risen by 4.7 per cent a year in "real" terms - over and above the general rate of inflation.
Electricity
From 1992 to 2002 residential electricity prices rose 2.1 per cent a year in real terms. They rose just 0.6 per cent a year in the decade before that.
New Zealand power consumers have dealt with some of the sharpest price rises in the world over the past 20 years. New Zealand's average annual power prices have increased more than 15c per kilowatt hour (kwh), from 9.2c per kwh in 1990 to 25.5 at the end of 2010. That's compared with an increase of less than 2c per kwh in Australia and about 3c per kwh in the United States.
Groceries
Prices for staple food items have risen as much as 50 per cent in the past six years.
Essential food items have increased by between 24 and 51 per cent since 2006. Staples like cheese, milk, bread, meat and vegetables have all seen significant price increases.
At the beginning of February, one Tauranga grocery store lowered its milk price to $2 for a 2-litre bottle - in the face of other outlets charging as much as $4.50.
According to Statistics New Zealand, the average price of a standard 2-litre milk in December 2011 was $3.67 - up 1.7 per cent on December 2010 and 15.4 per cent higher than in the same month in 2009.
In August last year, vegetable prices in supermarkets escalated so far that tomatoes, in particular, were selling for up to $15 per kilogram - or close to $2 per tomato.