Ratepayers' Report: Partnership funding helping keep Rotorua rates mid-pack

Co-investment and partnership funding have been heralded as helping keep Rotorua rates below the national average, as new figures reveal the highest and lowest rates in New Zealand.

The Taxpayers' Union released its annual Ratepayers' Report today .

The report reveals Rotorua ranked 30th out of all New Zealand territorial authorities with an average residential rates bill of $2358. The previous year, Rotorua ranked 35th.

Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick said she was not surprised the council's ranking had dropped as there had been some big projects.

"We are always very aware of keeping our rates low. [The] council really racks our brains over this, about how we can best spread the rates load.

"For those on fixed incomes, we are always aware that it's always tight for them."

Chadwick paid tribute to the up to $70 million provided through various partnerships which she said had helped keep rates low.

"We've been really lucky to get ... funding, philanthropy funding and co-investment from other partners. That really makes us able to keep rates that level."

However, Chadwick said Rotorua was still playing catch up after times where rates increases were kept "artificially low", such as 0.99 per cent.

"You can't invest in growth ... we've been struggling to keep up since then."

Far North District and Napier City, which had similar populations to Rotorua, had average rates bills of $2358 and $2147, respectively.

Rotorua District Residents and Ratepayers Association's Reynold Macpherson said the increasing rates was the group's strongest concern.

Macpherson said rates had been increasing by at least 5 per cent in recent years and failed to match consumer price index.

"There's a growing gulf between what pensioners are expected to pay and their capacity to pay," he said.

"The affordability of rates has plummeted. It's driving people to poverty ... in real terms, they are helping impoverish pensioners."

Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke said local election candidates ought to seriously consider ways of not just limiting rate hikes, but actually reducing costs on ratepayers.

Auckland City replaced Western Bay of Plenty District Council as having the highest rates in New Zealand due to new charges such as its interim transport levy.

Houlbrooke said Rotorua, Western Bay and Tauranga councils all needed to look at ways of reducing their liabilities, which translated into higher debt financing costs.

"For example, in Tauranga, each household forks out $360 a year just to service the interest on their council's debt. That's money that could be going to core services like roads, rubbish, or even rates relief."