3.97% rates rise for Thames-Coromandel as district moves to ‘user-pay’ model

Monday, 6 July 2026

Thames-Coromandel District Council has locked in 3.97% rates rise as it ushers in a new style of collection.

Looking down the barrel of a proposed 13.4% rise, council pivoted to increasing fees and services to take the squeeze off ratepayers. Over 400 individual fee lines were increased, a move acting mayor John Grant said was necessary given the district’s unique seasonal population.

He added the sub 4% rise “was a pretty good achievement in this climate”, and hopes the new model creates a continuation of minimal rates increases for years to come.

The community’s areas of concern were addressed as well as achieving a sub 4% rise, Thames-Coromandel District Council acting mayor John Grant says.

'It's very important the people who use the services of the council actually pay for them and this is a way that it's sharing the load of those costs more to the user than the ratepayers.“

District ratepayers have to invest in infrastructure that applies for “ten times the level' of a population base at times, Grant lamented.

Tourists hotspots like Cathedral Cove bring in tens of thousands of visitors to the district, especially in summer-time.

The district's 32,000 residents welcomes 500,000-600,000 visitors during the summer period. Tourists will begin to be charged for visiting popular sites such as Cathedral Cove, this is one of the measures to ease the burden on ratepayers.

'We have more toilets in this area than I think any other council in New Zealand… we have very large peaks of people and we have to build our infrastructure to handle those peaks.'

'Most people can see what we're trying to achieve and that is the people who are using the services pay more and those are not using the services pay less.'

A look into council’s in-house spending first, rather than rate increases, was called for by Mercury Bay South Residents & Rate Payers Association chair Paul Hopkins, who said more could be done to ease the strain.

Whitianga’s wharf is “part of the whole town” according to Mercury Bay South Residents & Rate Payers Association chair Paul Hopkins

'I personally think they could do a lot more cutting within the infrastructure themselves and doing things a lot more effectively. Look at your own systems first before you start trying to chop“, he said.

'I certainly don't like the way they throw money to consultants the whole time… there's so much money wasted in preliminary stuff that to me doesn't seem necessary.'

Thames Coromandel District councillor Flemming Rasmussen says council must become more streamlined in their approaches.

While the council's move towards a user-pays model has merit, Hopkins said it must adopt a holistic charging approach across a wide range of users. Otherwise, he warned community hotspots such as Whitianga's wharf, which is 'part of the culture', risk being overcharged.

'Council's can't just pick up one sector of the market and say 'we're gonna charge you x amount' and not look into others that are still affected by council charges.'

Speaking personally, Thames-Coromandel District councillor Flemming Rasmussen is pleased the model promotes a higher, more sustainable income for council, especially as severe weather events increase in frequency.

'We need to become a leaner and more cost-effective service provider as a council [and] get back to core services only as they're defined in the Local Government Act. If ratepayers want things beyond that, it will have to be funded through targeted rates in those communities that want those extra services.

User-pays is a 'more fair and equitable way', Rasmussen added, pointing out how the gold standard is a reduced price for locals.

'It's the ratepayer who pays for our boat ramps, who pays for the infrastructure… the user who uses them needs to pay for that.

'When our visitors are coming from Auckland only during the holidays, there needs to be a fee and an enforcement of user pays for that.'