Nelson rate rise set for average 6.5%
Nelson residents will face an average rates increase of 6.5% in 2025-26, after the city council stuck to its long-term plan.
At a meeting on Thursday, councillors adopted the annual plan and set the rates take for the next financial year.
Normally, annual plans go out for public consultation on matters that vary from the long-term plan (LTP), which the council adopted this year.
But, this year, the Nelson City Council agreed not to consult, as the annual plan did not substantially differ from the LTP, which sets the budget for 10 years and is reviewed every three years.
In the annual plan, the 6.5% rates increase was the same as the LTP.
External borrowings were set at $259.1 million, $0.3m less than the LTP; the debt to revenue ratio was 1% lower than the LTP, at 135%; capital spend was $7.2m over, at $88.4m; and operating expenditure was $7.8m over at $192m.
Total revenue is forecast to be $205.7m, $1m lower than budgeted in the LTP.
The annual plan went through with minimal debate, with councillors spending less than 25 minutes on the matter. An earlier debate on Plan Change 29 lasted nearly two hours.
Mayor Nick Smith said the annual plan reflected hard work by councillors and staff to stick to the long-term plan.
But, it also marked a shift in core focus from the August 2022 storm recovery, to revitalisation of the central city, he said.
He pointed to the Millers Acre Bus Hub as an example.
“Having an effective city hub that brings together our inter-city buses, our buses that service our national park, as well as our e-buses, I think is really exciting.”
The work on a new city play space was also exciting, he said.
Deputy mayor Rohan O’Neill-Stevens said the annual plan continued “solid work”, particularly around revitalisation of the CBD.
But, he cautioned that keeping the rates increase to 6.5% was achieved by cutting budgets while also having to absorb extra costs from central government.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done a budget where we haven’t cut money out of budget lines where we know, in the future, we will have to put it back in. Particularly in areas like renewals, where … the footpath doesn’t go away, the need to renew doesn’t go away – we just wait a little longer to do it.”
Councillor Mel Courtney said the cost of living crisis had been front of mind when developing the annual plan.
“We’ve got to be careful with how we spend other people’s money. It’s not ours, we’ve got no money, it’s the ratepayers’ money, and they deserve us to take it carefully and methodically and thoughtfully, and treat it with the utmost care, and I think we’ve done that.”
The council had clawed its way back from the storm recovery and there was a sense of stability in the community, he said.
By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail
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