Increased costs for rates and user fees are on the cards for Tauranga City. Photo / File
Tauranga homeowners are facing a proposed rates hike of 20 per cent and paying 30.5 per cent more for their water.
At a meeting this week Tauranga City Council commissioners approved the rates proposal - plus increases in the costs of a raft of facilities and services - as part of its draft 2021-2031 Long-term Plan.
If the plan is approved after public consultation, residential rates for median-valued properties would increase by 20 per cent or $9.16 per week.
This includes the cost of the council's new kerbside rubbish and recycling collection service, which accounts for an 8 per cent increase.
Commissioners Stephen Selwood, Shadrach Rolleston, Bill Wasley and chairwoman Anne Tolley also approved a proposed increase to the commercial differential rate from 1.2 to 1.6 for the next financial year.
This would lead to a rates increase of 39 per cent or about $36 per week for owners of median-valued commercial properties. Rates costs are usually passed on to businesses that lease the land.
The council said the differential would still be lower than other comparable New Zealand cities.
It made a similar argument in justifying the increased water charge, and has said its research showed the new kerbside service will be cheaper for most people compared to what they pay now.
Selwood said in the meeting he was happy to support price increases in general "but we need to demonstrate that we are as efficient as we can be".
"I think ratepayers want confidence that we are doing that. We need to tell them in our literature around the Long-term Plan that we are efficient and driving efficiency in our operations as well," he said.
Selwood questioned whether the council was being "adequately prudent" by putting itself on a more comparative level with other councils while also increasing staff resource.
The commissioners signed off on a $3.476 billion programme of capital spending over 10 years.
The programme was broken down into several key investment proposals and included $391 million in the Te Papa intensification project; $45m to redevelop the Memorial Park pool; and $80.8m in staff costs.
The programme was considered an opportunity to reset the city's direction and to better provide for community wellbeing.
Council chief executive Marty Grenfell said the council was "in a rebuilding, reforming stage" of its capital delivery programme.
"I think we've probably got it about right at this stage."
Selwood said while it was important to ensure the numbers added up, it was important to tell the story that "actually, this is about existing ratepayers investing in their own city and renewing existing assets they already have as much as it is about dealing with growth".
In a report to the meeting, council team leader of corporate planning Josh Logan said such big changes to water costs would help cover increases in depreciation as well as repairs and maintenance charges relating to growing and ageing assets.
It was also expected to help bring the council's debt levels down.
The average Tauranga household uses about 170 cubic metres in water per year.
This is charged at $2.23 per cubic metre, which the council proposes to increase to $2.90 per cubic metre.
Tauranga's combined water and wastewater revenue per customer per 200cu m treatment is about 30 per cent lower compared to the average between councils in Auckland, Western Bay of Plenty, Hamilton, Dunedin, and Whangārei, Logan said in the report.
The report also noted Tauranga's charges were about half of the Western Bay of Plenty's.
Other user charges likely to experience a hike in fees include burial costs (40 per cent increase); Land Information Memoranda information (15.7 per cent) and dog registrations (5 to 6 per cent).
The draft user fees and charges for council facilities and services will now be included in the consultation of the Long-term Plan, which will open on May 7 and close on June 7.