We are seeking your feedback on our Draft Annual Plan 2025 – 2026.

• The first relates to the Waitomo District Landfill.   As volumes of waste decrease due to reduced commercial volumes, and as operating costs increase, the viability of this landfill is increasingly becoming questionable.
    
•  The second relates to a seawall built by Council in Mōkau in 2015.  This seawall is failing, and either needs to be removed or re-built. The cost of either option needs to be paid for out of rates, and so whether such costs should be covered by Mōkau, districtwide ratepayers, or a mix of both is a question we're seeking feedback on
  
  
•  The third relates to whether we should begin to remove a the District Wide Benefit Rates for water and wastewater rate first imposed in 2018 whereby all properties in the district, whether connected or not to a public water or wastewater scheme, are rated equally to cover ten percent of the costs of water and wastewater in urban areas   

If adopted, the Draft Annual Plan 2025 – 2026 would bring in $26.2 million of rates, an increase over the current year of 2.93%.  Elected members have been mindful of the affordability of rates for many residents.  This increase is likely to be one of the lowest in the country and has been delivered after a thorough review of Council operational costs.  

We look forward to your feedback on this draft plan, and in particular your thoughts on the questions that we ask.

 

---

Read the
Consultation Document (PDF 1.6 MB)

 

The future of Waitomo District Landfill

During the development of our LTP 2024-2034, Council considered the future of the Waitomo District Landfill (WDL). At that time the best option was to continue with disposing waste at our landfill at Te Kūiti and develop the next part to make space for more waste.

We have reviewed this matter further and now present two options for your input:

• Option 1 - Expansion of and continued disposal at, the landfill
   
• Option 2 - Waste disposal outside the district (Preferred Option)

 

What has changed in recent times?

Waste volumes into our landfill have dropped over the past few years. Domestic waste is also reducing but more importantly, more than 60% of the current waste comes from commercial companies or from out of district.

Reduced waste volumes are great for the environment, but these volumes help cover the operational costs of the landfill. Any costs not recovered by gate fees are recovered from rates. The costs don’t really change based on volume, so any reduction actually means ratepayers need to pay more to keep the landfill open.

Our landfill is expected to reach its resource consent tonnage limit by June 2026. This means we need to decide to either expand our current landfill now (there is a new resource consent in place) or stop filling the current landfill and transport all waste and sludge out of the district.

If we decide on the latter, we can at a later date, expand and open the new landfill ‘cell’, under the new resource consent.

 

---

 

The future of the Mōkau Seawall

Waitomo District Council built a rock seawall at the end of Point Road, Mōkau in early 2015 to help slow down the erosion of the end of Point Road and retain beach access.

Over time the rock wall has degraded and is now irreparable, which means the seawall either needs to be renewed or removed. 

The cost of either option needs to be paid for out of rates, and so whether such costs should be covered by Mōkau, district wide ratepayers, or a mix of both is a question we're seeking feedback on.

 

--

 

Reducing the District Wide Benefit Rates for water and wastewater

Providing drinking water and disposing of wastewater had been considered by Council to benefit everyone and so some of the cost to deliver these services are covered by all ratepayers.  It is labelled as “District Wide Benefit” on your rates account.

As decided in the LTP 2024-34, Council will be installing water meters to all connected properties and introducing a ‘user pays’ model. The current approach that all ratepayers contribute to these services even though they are not direct users, does not fit with a user pays model.

Council is proposing to start reducing the portion of rates for water and wastewater charged to all rating units in the district.  This will give ratepayers time to adjust to the rate changes. Rates will increase for properties with water and wastewater services and decrease for those without. 

 

---

 

Policies Updates

Council is required by LGA 2002 to have a Rate Remission Policy to set the conditions and criteria for rate remits. The following changes have been proposed to clarify the criteria around retirement properties.

Amendment to ‘Organisation providing care for the elderly’ remission to include rates remission on the low-cost rental housing units owned by Hillview on the basis that the units are in place to help fund the rest home operations and are located on or contiguous to the rest home rating unit.

Amend the remission for Piopio Retirement Trust Board to recognise the additional unit constructed (i.e., remission of ten wastewater charges and remission of 50% of ten charges for solid waste management, solid waste collection and water supply).

Minor changes to reflect changes in staff roles, job titles and to ease administration.

Council is required by LGA 2002 to have a Revenue and Financing Policy that states the funding sources of activities. Changes have been proposed relating to the Water and Wastewater District-wide benefit rates

--

 

General Valuations

Districtwide property valuations need to be completed every three years. The new property values are as at September 2024 and will affect your rates from 1 July 2025. The revaluation can result in a change to the rates charged to individual properties with some increasing and some decreasing. This is because some rates, such as the general rate and roading rate, are charged on the basis of the capital value of your property.

--

Rates affordability

Rates affordability is a key consideration for the Council, and the impact of the proposals and the general revaluation has been thoroughly evaluated during the preparation of this AP.

To help smooth some of the effects of the revaluation and changes to the District Wide Benefit rate, the UAGC (Uniform Annual General Charge) is set at the reduced amount of $250, which is a reduction from the current year rate of $350.

Click here to check the estimated annual rates for your property in 2025/26.

--

Rate increase

The total rate requirement for 2025/26 is $26.2m which is an additional $745,000 of rates revenue to look after the assets we already have and to provide the services necessary for our district. This results in an average rate increase of 2.93%.

The main drivers for the rate increase are costs associated with waters and solid waste, funding the replacement of assets, and additional funding for Roading renewals, and District Plan development.

The change in your new property value may also impact the total rates you pay.

---