‘Rock and a hard place’: Waipā council proposes 10.7% rates rise

Monday, 18 May 2026

An average rates increase of 10.7% has been proposed for Waipā District Council.

Two big storms are part of the driver for a proposed rates rise of 10.7% in Waipā, the mayor says.

The figure, which represents the average increase for households, was proposed at a council workshop this month, in response to higher than expected inflation, escalating costs and recent storms.

Mayor Mike Pettit said they were caught between a “rock and a hard place” with the costs of the February State of Emergency adding up to $900,000 alone.

Mayor Mike Pettit says the increase comes after having to absorb the of recent storm events, escalating costs and high inflation (file photo).

“We’ve had to absorb the costs of two severe weather events, one of which resulted in the declaration of a State of Emergency, as well as rising costs for things like fuel and electricity that households are also facing.

“Overall, we would have needed an increase of around 15.5%, which we knew would not be acceptable to our community … We asked staff to look hard for savings, and to their credit, they have done that.”

The increase is a combination of an 8.1% increase needed to maintain council services and a 19.1% increase in revenue needed to carry out the transfer of water services to Waikato Waters Ltd in July.

Deputy Mayor Jo Davies-Colley says the increases were not unexpected and aligned with the Long Term Plan (file photo).

Deputy Mayor Jo Davies-Colley said the increases were not unexpected.

“It was what we anticipated in year two of the Long Term Plan, so although we tried our best to take it lower, it came out as what we had planned for and no higher.”

Among savings is a $3.6 million reduction in operational budgets, supported by the Future Us programme. Davies-Colley said other savings came from putting “nice to have” projects on hold, such as upgrading the Cambridge Library.

“There’s a lot of projects that we would like to do, but now is a time to be financially prudent. Everyone in the community is going through cost of living increases and we do not want rates to be part of that and that means pausing some of these projects.”

After higher-than-expected growth, council generated a $350k surplus, but at this stage, the general consensus in the workshop was to keep the money as a buffer to protect against future uncertainty rather than use it to reduce rates. Using the money would have generated an approximately $15 per household saving.

Pettit said the council was focused on doing things differently in the next Long Term Plan.

“Elected Members have set clear goals to guide our future decision-making, including responsible financial management, well-planned communities, fostering partnerships, strengthening trust and confidence, and community resilience.

“We can’t pretend the situation we find ourselves in is easy, and we won’t pretend it’s ideal … But our job is to make careful, responsible decisions in the long-term interests of our district — and to be straight with our community about why.”

The individual impact on houses would vary between properties and could be influenced by property revaluations in December. But a rates calculator is available.

The proposed increases would be presented for formal adoption at a June council meeting.