scoop.co.nz 21 Mar, 2021 08:45 am

Kāpiti council told to reduce costs and reduce 7.8% rates increase

Scoop Wellington provides news and views from Wellington, New Zealand

‘The Mayor and Councillors who have approved this draft plan need to take a reality check.‘These plans are in draft form and will need to be approved by the Mayor and Councillors this Thursday 25 March.‘To do this the Council are musing with the idea of increasing their borrowing limit of 200 percent of operating income to 250 percent and creating a Council controlled trading organisation (CCO) to ‘operate commercially and can generate a profit for our district’.Council’s borrowing limit should be kept to its current level—just because interest rates are low is no excuse to increase our debt levels by 25 percent, they are already one of the highest in NZ.

‘A big driver for the rates rise is a massive increase in capital expenditure — from $23 million a year for the last three years, to $73 million a year for the next three.‘One positive thing I take from the draft plan is that Council are transparent about wanting to increase rates, debt and expenditure.

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Kāpiti council told to reduce costs and reduce 7.8% rates increase

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