Napier City Council proposes 8.8% average rates rise for the year

Napier ratepayers will have the chance to have their say on the proposed rates increase when public consultation opens on March 30.

Napier City Council is putting an average 8.8% rate hike for the year out for community consultation.

The increase is a 0.3 percentage point drop from the forecast increase in the 2024-27 three-year plan.

In unanimously voting to put the plan out for consultation at a council meeting on Tuesday, councillor Nigel Simpson thanked staff for their diligence in formatting the budgets.

“It’s a hard ask in these current economic times, and we have asked them to stick as close to the three-year plan as possible, and they have achieved that.”

Councillor Keith Price said it was a consultation document and the amount of rate rise required could change.

“Some issues are sitting out there that could come forward and won’t last until the end of the long-term plan,” Price said.

The 8.8% increase is made up of borrowing costs (5.7%), labour costs (3.4%), a targeted CCTV rate (0.2%), growth (0.3%) and operating savings (-0.8%).

In 2024, Napier’s rates rose by an average 19.95% and in 2026 the average was 8.9%.

On the agenda, council officers noted that people were feeling cost pressures and that rate increases were not easy.

“To keep our city running, though, they must happen,” the agenda stated.

“The reality is, the cost of infrastructure, water investment and essential services has risen sharply.

“This is the environment we are operating in and these are the hard decisions we must make to keep our city functioning.”

It said council staff had worked hard to keep the rate increase below the level they thought it would be three years ago.

“We have cut our cloth to fit our budget and we are focusing on essentials and investing where it matters most. We are not borrowing for day-to-day operations because that’s like borrowing for the groceries. We are staying disciplined.

“The choices are to protect our community’s future.”

Consultation runs from March 30 to April 24. The final plan will be prepared and adopted on June 25.

Rates in the rest of Hawke’s Bay

Hastings District Council (HDC) has proposed two options for rate increases, an overall increase of 5.9%, which would result in an unbalanced budget of $4.8m funded through borrowing for 2026/27 (with the expectation of a balanced budget in 2027/28), or a 9.1% increase that would achieve a balanced budget for 2026/27.

The community will get the chance to have their say with submission hearings on June 10 and 11, 2026, before the final Annual Plan is adopted by June 30, 2026.

In Central Hawke’s Bay, the district’s projected average rates increase for 2026-27 was 7.7%.

In Wairoa, the forecast rates increase, set two years ago in the 2024-27 long-term plan, was 9.97%.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council said it was considering an average rates increase of less than 5% for 2026-27, down from the 8.5% rise projected in its long-term plan, though it had not confirmed a specific figure.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.