The Napier City Council is expected next week to approve an 8.8% rates increase for 2026/27, down a tiny bit from the 9.1% signaled in its Three-Year-Plan.

After staff restructuring and three workshops, Councillors have found only 0.8% operational savings.

NCC offered this comparison to help assuage concerns, based on a Taxpayers’ Union website ranking 58 other non-unitary councils:

Of course, inappropriately low rates are what got Napier into the infrastructure mess it now must claw out of.

The major components of the rates hike are increases in borrowing costs (representing 65% of the bump up) and labour costs (representing 39%).

The new Annual Plan, assuming approved, will commit NCC to a considerable $25 million hike on capital spending for the fiscal year ahead … this amount net of some $13 million in deferrals.

Most of this relates to water services: water supply ($18.6 million, including the Mataruahou (Hospital Hill) Reservoir and Taradale water treatment plant 2; stormwater ($4.8 million to reduce flood risk exposure), and wastewater ($1.6 million, including the wastewater outfall to Hawke Bay).

A new animal shelter will get about $3 million.

And there is a speed-up of spending on the civic and library buildings reflecting construction progress.

Photo: Kirsten Simcox