Are residents of the fastest growing district in NZ getting ripped off?
Friday, 25 April 2025
Selwyn residents are paying their fair share of taxes, but annual government investment in the district is lacking by $369 million, analysis has found.
Mayor Sam Broughton has consistently said Selwyn has been underfunded for decades, but now he has the data to prove it.
An indicative assessment completed by Rodney Yeoman, the director of independent consultancy firm Formative, found the district’s residents have paid their taxes fairly, but have not received comparable funding for at least 10 years.
Selwyn’s population reached about 86,000 last year - 1.57% of the nation’s total headcount.
Based on conservative goods and services and PAYE tax estimates, using individual income data from the census, Yeoman said the district gave about $1.2 billion to the Government, about 1.53% of the total PAYE and GST haul in 2023.
Yeoman said the estimates showed Selwyn was “contributing a fair share to the overall tax take”, but the Government’s investment into infrastructure for the fastest growing district in the country was lacking by hundreds of millions of dollars.
The analysis showed a $186m gap in 2015 between investment in Selwyn compared to the national average, based on the premise that the Government’s spend in the district should be proportional to its tax take from residents.
By 2024, the gap had increased to $369m.
Broughton said the gap was “unacceptable”.
“When we look at what the Government is spending back in Selwyn it falls well short of the average that they’re spending per person across the rest of New Zealand.”
He planned to write to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to ask why Selwyn was in this position, he said.
“There might be some clear understanding. I’m willing to hear that and we should seek that information, but at the moment it feels like the Government has left Selwyn in a place that’s forgotten because we’ve grown so quickly.”
Transport
The Government has spent $105m on major transport projects in Selwyn over the past 10 years - less than $150 per person, compared to the national annual average spend of $950.
If it had spent the national average in Selwyn, more than $500m in additional transport projects would have been funded.
A spokesperson for the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said the $105m referred only to local road expenditure, which was matched largely by council funding.
“This $105m does not include NZTA/Government funding provided for the maintenance and repairs spent on state highways in the Selwyn District.”
Selwyn will receive about $10m a year on top of the figure for state highway maintenance, rehabilitation and repairs from 2024 - 27 under the current budget, as well as funding for projects under the Government's national land transport fund and plan, the spokesperson said.
In 2022, stage two of the four-lane motorway for SH1 from Halswell Junction Rd was completed, which cost $195m. NZTA also funded the $125m Rolleston Rd access improvements as a road of regional significance, which was scheduled to be completed in 2030, they said.
Housing
Selwyn has 27 Kāinga Ora homes - about one for every 3000 people. Nationally, Kāinga Ora has one home for every 60 people.
If Selwyn’s housing stock was in line with national levels, there would be another 1300 public houses in the district and an increase of $50m spent annually.
About 56 people were on the housing register waiting for homes in February 2025, according to data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. There were no transitional housing in the district.
Broughton said the district needed state housing to support its struggling residents.
“Selwyn is one of the least deprived districts in the country, but that doesn’t mean there’s not pockets of need and families that are struggling right now and they need that housing support.”
Health
In regards to health, Yeoman found nationally, about one person was employed at a hospital for every 60 people. In Selwyn, one person is employed for every 1500.
Selwyn has two small hospitals in Darfield and Leeston.
If Selwyn's health force was increased to meet the national average, another 1400 people would need to be employed, Yeoman said, requiring another $130m annually.
Selwyn’s head of strategy Ben Baird said the deficit was likely due to investment into hospitals in Christchurch, a sentiment shared by health minister Simeon Brown.
Brown said spending varied between districts, especially if there were major hospitals nearby.
“Many of Health New Zealand’s specialist services are delivered at a regional level at major hospitals in large population centres. In the Canterbury region, these are largely delivered in Christchurch.”
Policing
Nationally, there is about one police officer for every 500 people. In Selwyn, there is one officer for every 2000 people.
If numbers were aligned in Selwyn to meet national averages, another 130 police would need to be employed in Selwyn.
A further $30m would need to be spent on policing annually, for a total of $115m.
Police minister Mark Mitchell, the Ministry of Justice and police were approached for comment.
Education
Selwyn has 32 schools, including 28 primary schools and four secondary schools.
New Zealand has 19 primary schools with more than 700 pupils. Selwyn is home to five of them.
Nationally, about one person is employed at a school for every 50 people living in Aotearoa. In Selwyn, there’s one person employed for every 65 people in the district.
If numbers were aligned in Selwyn to meet the national average, another 500 people would need to be employed at schools in the district, requiring an extra annual spend of $40m (bringing the total to $207m).
Education minister Erica Stanford and the Ministry of Education were approached for comment.