Waikato District Council approves 2.8% rates rise

Wednesday, 8 April 2026

The rate rise would have been about 0.8% if not for an accounting error, Deputy Mayor Eugene Patterson said.

Ratepayers in the Waikato District face a 2.8% rate rise, but the deputy mayor says it could have been “close to zero” if not for an accounting error.

The 2.8% general rates rise figure was agreed on Wednesday, when councillors approved the budget for the annual plan. It compares to a 4.25% rise the previous year.

However, when targeted rates are included the latest increase will be more like 3.79% (excluding storm water) for many. Either way, the result meets the requirements of the Government-mandated rates cap.

The 2.8% rate rise was in a budget approved by Waikato District councillors on Wednesday.

Deputy Mayor Eugene Patterson said the rate rise would have been “close to zero’’, at 0.8%, if not for an accounting error.

The amount the council would get from rubbish stickers was overestimated - before the current council was elected - and left a $2.9m hole in the annual budget.

The eventual rate rise was a “great achievement’’ given the financial crisis and a community that was “really hurting’’, Patterson said.

However, he noted the figure did not include water, which will be paid to IAWAI this year, not the council, but will still add to ratepayer costs.

‘I think we've made very good progress, but there's a bigger job ahead,’ Waikato District Mayor Aksel Bech said.

Mayor Aksel Bech said the rate rise fell within the expected Government-mandated rates cap expectations of between 2% and 4%.

“Not zero to 4%… on the basis there is inflation, there is a general escalation in cost, and running at 0% actually means you're probably not doing maintenance, and you're not doing the renewals and so on that you should be.’’

“Unfortunately, we do have to inherit the position that we start from. So, I'm very supportive of this.

“The [financial] crunch is real, there's pressures everywhere, and we are adding to it, but I think we've made very good progress, but there's a bigger job ahead, and that's number one, achieving it, and number two, looking at the LTP to see what we can do.’’

David Whyte said he was “very pleased, in principle’’.

However, Fabio Rodrigues voted against the motion because he had promised voters to campaign on affordability and was worried those on fixed incomes in the district “can’t afford it’’.

He urged the council to come up with more “innovative’’ ways to lower future rates.

Verne Reeve was “delighted’’ with the outcome, noting councillors had gone through the budget “line by line’’.

Grant Coombes welcomed the budget noting with the LTP work just two months away, ‘’the hard work starts now’’.

Councillors approved the budget, recognising that the Iran-USA war could affect the actual spend.

Crystal Beavis noted a staff report that indicated escalating fuel costs alone stood to add an extra $180,000 a year to the budget, at the current rate of fuel. The council was also agreeing to a budget recognising a $550,000 deficit.

The Annual Plan will be formally adopted at a later meeting in June, ahead of work starting on the council’s 10-year Long Term Plan.