Wellington Mayor Andrew Little has apologised, and the Local Government Minister expressed his disappointment, after the Wellington City Council admitted to a second accounting blunder in its rates bills.
The council has revealed it accidentally overcharged ratepayers by an average of $10 each in its recent rates demands.
Last year, it had to apologise to ratepayers after it accidentally undercharged them for the city’s special sludge levy.
The $3.4 million error meant ratepayers were undercharged an average of $40, with between $3 and $100 undercharged per household.
Now, in a review of that error, a second billing blunder has been uncovered, Little revealed.
“We’ve got another mistake [that has] just become apparent in the last few days, which is we’ve overcharged, by a small amount, Wellington ratepayers on the Greater Wellington Regional Council levy,” Little revealed to Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills today.
“It is annoying, it’s inconvenient,” the mayor said in an interview with the Herald this afternoon.
“It is what it is, we front up and we do everything we can to prevent it from happening again.”
A former Auckland Council chief financial officer was called in to independently review Wellington’s error, Little said.
The mayor apologised to ratepayers, saying he was “really sorry this has happened again” and “really sorry that it’s causing the inconvenience that it inevitably will”.
The overcharge came from the regional council rates charge and will be deducted from upcoming rates bills.
“Wellington City Council is today apologising to ratepayers for a second mistake in the calculation of their 2025-26 rates bills; however, the second mistake means ratepayers will have to pay less than previously thought,” a council statement said.
“Although the Greater Wellington rates error has a small impact on the total due over the year, it is still a mistake that should not have happened.”
When the first error was found last year, council chief strategy and finance officer Andrea Reeves told media the initial mistake should never have happened.
“I‘m really apologetic for it, genuinely,” she said at the time.
At the time, radio host Mills called for Reeves to resign over the incident.
Little today told Mills that Reeves was “doing a great job”.
“She sees the problem, she’s got independent people coming in to [investigate] what the process problems are that led to these mistakes,” he said.
Little said he had “full confidence” in Reeves.
She was unavailable for an interview about the issue when asked by the Herald today, but said in a statement that the two charging errors would be fixed in the rates invoices people will receive in the week beginning February 3, 2026.
“Ratepayers will see a credit to reverse the overcharge, and an amount for the sludge levy undercharge – so ratepayers will have a lower catch-up than we initially expected,” she said.
A council spokesman earlier said the previous undercharge legally could not be waived or absorbed, and ratepayers would have to foot it in their February and May rates bills, so it could be passed on to the sludge facility’s funding entity.
Asked to explain the legal position and why the council could not absorb the sum itself, Reeves said she received legal advice on it but did not have the details to hand and “couldn’t possibly explain it”.
That first mistake happened when the levy was uploaded into the billing system, the council said.
“Some amounts were entered as GST-inclusive instead of GST-exclusive, and an incorrect fixed charge was used.”
It was a case of human error that came about during the data entry stage, Reeves confirmed.
“To prevent this happening again, stronger internal controls have been put in place, including additional review steps.”
Council now said it was “confident” all rates assessments are correct, but if a ratepayer would like an updated Greater Wellington rates assessment, they can contact the council.
Local Government Minister Simon Watts has expressed his disappointment in the Wellington City Council.
“I am disappointed to learn through the media again that Wellington City Council has discovered another mistake with their rates billing,” Watts said in a statement.
“These incidences undermine the confidence that ratepayers have on their council’s billing processes.”
The minister acknowledged the council’s effort to review its mistakes, saying his expectation is that council officials “ensure the appropriate systems are put in place to avoid these mistakes and continue to communicate and rectify any further errors to ratepayers as soon as possible”.
“Our programme of local government reform will put into place systems to ensure councils manage rates and community assets with better care and responsibility,” he said.
Wellington Chamber of Commerce and Business Central CEO Hayley Horan said, “Businesses rely on clear and accurate rates information so they can plan with confidence.
“It’s positive to see the error identified and corrective steps taken quickly,” Horan said.
“What matters now is the transparency about what went wrong and the actions being taken to ensure ratepayers are charged only what they are legally required to pay.”
Councillor Diane Calvert, chair of the planning and finance committee, said she was disappointed in the situation, but also expressed confidence in Reeves.
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.