However, LGNZ and the Gisborne District Council want to ensure “exemptions happen in a timely fashion”.
“The discussion we would be having with Minister Watts is what the timelines are around the criteria to apply for those exemptions.”
Gisborne faced huge recovery bills after Cyclone Gabrielle swept through the region in 2023.
In times of disaster, “rapid decisions and action on the ground” must reconnect the community and “get the economy pumping again”.
“The same for fast-growing regions - they need to build the infrastructure, the roads, the pipes that support the Government’s aspirations of building more homes.”
Gisborne District Council has a rate increase of 9.95% for its 2025/26 annual plan.
Of that, 2% has been forecast for recovery and 7.8% for business as usual.
The target would begin from 2027 and would be fully enforced by July 1, 2029, the Government said.
Gisborne District Council will start planning its 10-year plan in the middle of next year, which will include a budget for the region and an estimate for the rates increase.
The council would then be able to see if it needed to apply for a civil defence recovery exemption rate, Stoltz said.
“Because if you take a look, that 2% is solely dedicated to just building back [for recovery].
“We will have to have serious discussions with our community ... [about] what we do and what we don’t do ... to cover the rest, which is all our business as usual.”
Communities expected basic infrastructure from councils, she said.
“We need to make sure that the funding allocated does not restrict us from doing those basics well.”
Councils were discussing and making recommendations to the Government to investigate other funding tools for local government.
“Mayors across the country are keen to discuss with the Government on what would be appropriate mechanisms to recognise that there are certain functions done by councils which are not appropriately funded.
“We have seen unfunded mandates creep in over the last while, so I think it’s time for all those discussions to be had and to look at the bigger picture.”
A civil defence levy was among the funding mechanisms which Gisborne District Council and other mayors were looking at.
“If you think of how we pay our house insurance, we pay a fire and emergency levy for when something bad happens, so these funds are building up slowly over time.”
The same principle could be applied to a civil defence levy, where the Government had a pot of money built up and available when needed, she said.
The Government had made it clear they wanted feedback, which could be given until February, Stoltz said.
Part of the exclusion criteria were councils that had extreme weather events and councils that had delays or had not invested appropriately in infrastructure.
Over the past 10-15 years, many people campaigned on keeping rates low, but councils later realised that road infrastructure had deteriorated because of underinvestment, she said.
“We might find ourselves in a space - once every council can analyse what this means for them - that the government might see that there are lots of exemptions sought.”
Stoltz said the rates cap would not affect water charges under Local Waters Done Well, as that was a separate system, with ringfenced funding.
With the council’s other fees and charges, Stoltz said she imagined the council would ensure it was recovering costs for services.
