The Ratepayers Association said the council now had a new reason to not raise rates.
"Coronavirus is going to strip out the capacity of our community to pay for significant rate rises," said Reynold Macpherson, one of the more vocal members of the political group.
"And the council is now talking about imposing another, substantial rates rise and our people will be, because of the impact of coronavirus, many people will be laid off - particularly from tourism and forestry. So the affordability of rates is going to be way beyond what's possible in our community, therefore we must come right back."
It's a common complaint against district councils around New Zealand who often say rates are a necessary evil to pay for the services residents expect.
In Rotorua, the argument is centred around the waterfront development with supporters saying it is a vital piece of tourism infrastructure.
And even though rates on average rose by less than 5 per cent last year, Macpherson sees council spending plans very differently.
"We've been arguing this way for, how many years? Six or seven years? The council is spending far more than it should, unwisely on wasteful, vanity and payback projects.
"It's been spending in those areas quite irresponsibly."
Paddi Hodgkiss is also a member of the Ratepayers Association. As a pensioner, she's concerned about her financial future, her rates have also risen in the past six years.
"My sole income is my pension, my rates in general over this period of time have gone up around 33 per cent," Hodgkiss said.
"You'd expect when you retire that you could enjoy life a bit more, I mean we do enjoy our life but we just have to be infinitely more cautious.
"And when you know the rates are going up again and again, significantly, God forbid I hate to think what it's going to be this year, there are a lot of people who are going to be in a very tight financial position and this is just impossible.
Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick and other councillors wouldn't speak on camera because they're still in the process of internal discussions before making decisions.
Meanwhile, newly elected councillors have received training to better understand the subject. One of them is Ratepayers Association member Peter Bentley, who was horrified at even the suggestion of a rates rise.
"Shock. Absolute shock," said Bentley.
"When they announced what they anticipated the rates rise to be in the vicinity of, I just turned to the person sitting next to me and said 'they've got to be bloody dreaming'."
A full council meeting to discuss this and the impact of coronavirus was scheduled for last Thursday but was postponed.
As for McKenzie and his dairy farm, he says he'll have to start budgeting and hope for the best.
"When I first moved to Rotorua 25 years ago, my rates were under $5000, now it's just on $30,000. They're going up," said McKenzie.
"We've got to find another $20,000 a year that doesn't go back into developing our business, or spending that on wages and employing people to do a job for us."
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