It’s your time to be heard on Wellington City Council’s spending
Thursday, 26 March 2026
Ben McNulty is deputy mayor of Wellington
OPINION: Across New Zealand, every council is grappling with the same fundamental challenge: the serious (and long overdue) need to invest in critical infrastructure, keep delivering quality frontline services for our communities, and making sure we’re realistic about affordability for Kiwis, especially as we struggle through a sustained cost-of-living crisis.
The cost-of-living crisis is real; it remains a huge challenge for Wellingtonians, and voters delivered a clear message last October that council must play its part in addressing it.
The new Wellington City Council has started confronting this reality with our proposed budget for the 2026/27 financial year. We are proposing the lowest rates increase since 2021 at 7.4%, while continuing to invest in the future needs of our city through infrastructure, facilities and core services.
This is only the beginning of the work we need to do to get a firm grip on the city’s finances, now we need to hear from you about whether we’re getting the balance right when the annual plan consultation opens April 10.
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We know Wellingtonians value their frontline council facilities such as the revamped Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui central library, pools, parks and playgrounds; we also know residents want to see investments in environmental protection such as the sludge minimisation facility, reducing emissions and climate measures like degassing pools and installing solar energy on council facilities, as well as doubling the number of trees planted in the central city.
Wellingtonians rightfully expect proper investment in maintaining our existing infrastructure whether it be footpaths, roads, cycle lanes or retaining walls.
They also expect the council to deliver value out of every single dollar it spends of ratepayer money. That’s why the council has agreed to many of the savings, efficiencies and revenue measures identified by my Revenue and Financial Value Working Group to go into the 2026/27 budget.
The pressure of affordability on our city cannot be ignored. On July 1 this year, Wellington’s new regional water entity Tiaki Wai will commence operations. You’ll have a new bill to pay, and it won’t be cheap.
Tiaki Wai has forecast that average residential charges will rise from $2100 per connection today to between $5200 and $5900 by 2034. Homeowner or renter, you will bear the brunt of this cost.
Meanwhile, the positive signs across our local economy in job listings, LIM applications and resource consents will have to contend with the impacts of a global oil price shock.
All of this while the council foots the $83 million cost overrun for our single biggest ever environmental investment – the sludge minimisation plant – and stands ready to confront the urgent repair costs of the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant, which we’ve already reallocated a big chunk of money underspent elsewhere to fast-track recovery works – because we cannot afford to waste time on protracted legal arguments while untreated sewage pours into our south coast.
For those who believe we can continue as we have previously, I have bad news.
As we move toward our 2027-37 long-term plan, we will do this in the assumption of a rates capped environment. Merits (or relative lack thereof) of this approach aside, the hardest decisions made by Wellington City Council in generations lie ahead of us.
As I knocked on thousands of doors across my Takapū/Northern Ward in the election campaign last year, the message about affordability couldn’t have been any clearer.
Residents have looked hard at their own budgets, their mortgage payments and outgoings and they expect their council to do the same. I want to see as many people as possible choose to make our city home, but there’s nothing progressive about a city that is too expensive to live in.
The mayor pledged to deliver a council that listens. The annual plan consultation beginning April 10 is your best chance to be heard.