Wellington City Council confirms proposed rates rise as draft Annual Plan approved for public feedback

Thursday, 30 April 2020

Many Wellington commercial properties will be able to delay rates payments under the city council's proposed 2020-21 Annual Plan.

Wellington ratepayers will get to have their say on a proposed 5.07 per cent rates increase when the city council's draft Annual Plan is put out for public feedback.

The proposed increase was one of a number of recommendations passed by the council for the 2020-21 financial year during a Zoom meeting on Thursday.

Wellington City councillor Iona Pannett proposed a number of initiatives as part of the council's draft Annual Plan, including pedestrian safety improvements, more money for biodiversity protection, and more home energy audits.

Also included were proposals to defer rates payments for commercial property owners affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and debt-fund a forecast $48 million in lost revenue.

The rates deferrals would be available to commercial property owners receiving government financial support or a mortgage suspension from their bank to help them through the pandemic, and would allow them to delay quarterly payments for up to six months.

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The council agreed to a programme of minor works to improve pedestrian safety.

The scheme is not available to Government-owned properties or those owned by utility companies.

Councillor Iona Pannett also pushed through a number of initiatives under her Tipu Toa: Build Back Better proposal.

They included an extra $200,000 for the council's weed management programme aimed at protecting indigineous biodiversity, increasing the number of home energy audits, and a programme of minor works to improve pedestrian safety.

Kāpiti Mayor K (Guru) Gurunathan said Wellington City councillors need to 'pull finger' after a facilitator was brought in to help iron out problems among the elected representatives.

She also won support for providing an additional $100,000 for the Built Heritage Incentive Fund, which is available to heritage building owners for conservation and earthquake-strengthening work.

The council came under fire from regional mayors earlier on Thursday after a facilitator had to be brought in to help iron out problems among councillors.

Pannett took the opportunity after her proposals were accepted to fire back at the criticism, thanking councillors for their constructive discussion 'on a day when we were told we are not unified'.

The $48m debt forecast by the council included a predicted $24m shortfall from normal user charges such as use of community facilities, as well as a range of fee freezes, rebates and discounts.

It also included a forecast $14m loss in revenue from its annual Wellington Airport dividend, and a $10m drop in rates-funded operating expenditure.

Before the pandemic outbreak, the council had planned to generate an additional $11m in 2020-21 from fee increases, with the largest proportion due to come from building consent, parking and landfill fees.

The updated predicted loss in revenue comes from freezes and discounts on things like council gyms and pool memberships, library fees, and food and alcohol licence registrations and renewals, among others.

“The general assumption is fees and charges revenue will be approximately 60 per cent of predicted levels in July 2020, increasing to 100 per cent by the end of October 2020,” the document said.

The council had also planned to remove the rates discount for people building their first home or purchasing a new build in Wellington, noting poor uptake of the scheme.

However, Pannett's amendments overturned that plan, meaning the policy will stay.

A separate pandemic response plan has been drafted by the council, but is not part of the draft Annual Plan.

The draft Annual Plan will go out for public feedback from May 8 until June 8.