Napier rates hike - 47 per cent over three years?

Napier ratepayers are facing rates increases likely accumulating close to 50 per cent over the next three years - with some fees and charges possibly doubling.

The figures came from three-year plan documents produced for Thursday’s council meeting.

But councillors are certainly earning their part of the money, with hundreds of pages to read before they gather at the table for what promises to be one of the more challenging meetings in the near-150 years since Napier was acclaimed a borough in 1874.

Inner harbour fees and charges are among those under scrutiny as the Napier City Council tries to minimise expected record increases in rates. Photo / NZME

Long-serving councillor Maxine Boag was unable to quantify whether it “is” the biggest workload she’s seen for a single council meeting in her 17 years in the role, but, after two days’ reading and more to come, described it as “humongous”, while Mayor Kirsten Wise said it’s certainly the biggest for a few years, and “this term”.

Boag was quick to empathise with staff - who in a modern world might find jobs threatened as councils throughout the country seek escape routes trying to balance the costs with as little impact as possible on the ratepayer.

“The staff have done an amazing job pulling it all together,” she said. “There is a lot of really important information, so I really do hope the public do take the opportunity to watch the live-streaming to get to understand some of it, and take part in the processes. Don’t be daunted by the amount of information.”

The likelihood of some of the biggest rates increases in the city’s history had been signalled as the council grapples with infrastructure issues common to most councils throughout the country, with what Wise calls the “overlay” of Cyclone Gabrielle recovery.

Staff are now recommending a 23.7 per cent average rates increase this year, with a forecast of 10.5 per cent next year and 8 per cent for the 2026-2027 year. Cumulatively that amounts to 47.62 per cent.

But Wise said everything else is “on the table”, including fees and charges, such as parking and those for council-owned operations and facilities – such as Ocean Spa, the War Memorial conference and events centre, and Kennedy Park – as the council strives to minimise the impact on ratepayers.

Inner harbour fees are among the array under the microscope, and could over time gravitate from being significantly subsidised from the ratepayer purse to being 100 per cent user-pays.

Already flagged is housing strategy, which also arises at the meeting and is in public consultation and tenant meetings.

“We are really doing a deep-dive, all sorts of things to try to alleviate the need for rates increases,” Wise said, noting that Napier had for years kept rates below those of many other centres, and ratepayers had probably been “under-paying” in some areas of service.

The meeting will spark the public three-year-plan consultation process, with submissions open from March 25 to April 24, with hearings on May 27-28 for those wishing to speak to their submissions.