Mayoral taskforce aims to cut rates in half

Tuesday, 18 November 2025

Thames Coromandel’s new mayor is setting up a special council taskforce to “urgently identify savings” in an effort to slash planned rates rises in half.

However, newly elected mayor Peter Revell says the challenge to reduce rates cannot be underestimated, “will not be easy, and will impact council activities”, and told the Waikato Times what services could be cut were yet to be decided on.

Revell says the formation of his new Mayoral Efficiency Taskforce (MET) aims to keep planned rate increases affordable, and will deliver on election promises made by him and some councillors “to keep planned rate increases low”.

He said a small working group - made up of himself, deputy mayor John Grant, councillor Flemming Rasmussen, and senior staff including chief executive Aileen Lawrie, will “review council budgets closely, aiming to deliver a significantly reduced rate increase for next year”.

Revell says they are aiming to reduce the council’s average long-term plan rates increase for 2026/27 from 7.7% to 3.85%.

'We were elected on a promise to keep planned rate increases low,' he said.

'Households are already under pressure, and we know every dollar counts.

“I cannot overstate the challenge we have in achieving this reduction, hence the need for urgent and focused attention.

“This taskforce will move quickly to deliver lower planned rate increases without unnecessarily compromising core services like water, roads, and waste management.'

Deputy mayor John Grant said with only 35 months for the MET to achieve its objectives, “time is of the essence”.

'These cost reductions will not be easy and will impact council activities.

“MET is reviewing all operational and capital programmes to deliver low increases for the 2026/27 annual plan, and beyond,' Grant said.

Revell said the MET will meet weekly and present its initial recommendations by February 2026 with regular progress updates to the public.

He said ratepayers, via community boards, will be invited to provide input on identifying potential efficiencies, and comment on proposed savings, other revenue opportunities, and trade-offs.

The MET will review feedback and make cost-saving recommendations to the full council, which will make final decisions.

“It's the beginning of the annual plan process, and we're looking at everything really closely to work out where it is that we can make savings, and where it is that we can improve revenue,” Revell said.

“We're working with the staff on this because they know all the detail. We want to look at where the big expenditure items are … and asking is there an opportunity to spend less for the next financial year.

“They've only just got underway … and trying to define the terms of reference.

“When I first started campaigning on it, which was back in late May, I had a very strong belief that it was achievable.

“Obviously some things have changed since then and we've had some costs landed on us by central government that perhaps we weren't expecting to have.

“We're in the worst economic situation New Zealand has been in for decades.

“We're running at it with a lot of energy, and enthusiasm, and optimism.

“But we'll have to make some hard decisions to get there and some of those … won't be fun … but I can't speculate as to what those things might be.”

Meanwhile, Revell has added two new committees to the council’s structure - Infrastructure and Finance, and Regulatory and Planning - which will complement the council’t two existing committees - Risk and Assurance, and the Chief Executive Committee.

Committee chairpeople and membership will be confirmed at a council meeting on November 25.