Annual rates rise one of the lowest in New Zealand

Published on 30 May 2019

Whanganui will have one of the lowest overall annual rates rises in the country, after Councillors, at the district’s 2019/20 Annual Plan meeting on 22 May 2019, approved an overall average rates rise of 3.7%.

Mayor Hamish McDouall says individual increases will vary, depending on how rates have been assessed for each property, but the average rates rise set for Whanganui could be one of the lowest in New Zealand.

Other key decisions for the 2019/20 Annual Plan included:

• bringing funding for port redevelopment forward to 2019/20 and increasing it further by $6.2M – resulting in a total of $12.3M for 2019/20
• $80,000 to develop and implement a heritage strategy
• $10,000 to fund Waitangi Day celebrations

Mayor McDouall said the recent population growth in Whanganui means rates will be shared between more property owners.

“We know some residents struggle with the cost of rates so we have worked hard to keep the increase fairly low.”  

He acknowledged the Chief Executive Kym Fell and Council officers for their endeavours to deliver this result.

“We must congratulate our officers for being able to trim things down.”

 The Annual Plan will be formally adopted on 27 June, 2019.