(media release)
On 11 June 2026, all but one of our elected members on Council committed Kapiti ratepayers to a rates increase of 6.5%, through the adoption of the Annual Plan for 2026/27. This is despite Councillors having recently received a report from Infometrics about the unaffordability of rates in the Kapiti district, and despite the fact that most of those elected members campaigned on the need to get rates under control.
And remember this is an average increase of 6.5% across the district. Some residents will pay much more, depending on the value and location of their property and the services, like water supply, they may or may not receive.
Residential rates – both Kapiti Coast District Council (KCDC) and Greater Wellington Region Council rates – were calculated by Infometrics to take 5.8% of Kapiti’s median household income of $97,500 in 2025. Rates were reported to have increased 26%, whereas household incomes only grew by 11%, between 2022 and 2025.
This makes Kapiti’s rates bill amongst the most unaffordable in New Zealand. The comparable figure for Wellington – usually regarded as a high rates Council with out-of-control spending – was only 4.7% of median incomes in 2025.
This year’s average rate increase of 6.5% will do nothing to improve overall affordability for households.
Ms Chris Harwood, Chair of Concerned Ratepayers Kapiti says, “Some rate payers will be facing a hefty increase at a time when they are facing cost pressures across the board. And this comes after previous years where rate increases have become the norm under the current Long term Plan- the first of the rate hike of 17% on average for the 2024/25 year, followed by 6.9% and now 6.5% for 2026/27.
“Council’s communications say it worked to manage rising costs. This is simply not correct. KCDC’s rates are increasing at over twice the rate of forecast increases for the Local Government Cost Index (LGCI) – which is a measure for how much local authority’s operating costs are increasing. This year it’s forecast to increase by about 2.6%, but average KCDC rates will increase by 6.5%.”
During deliberations at the Council meeting, some extraordinary statements were made by the mayor and councillors.
A strong view was expressed during the meeting that Council simply could not do anything different from what was projected in the Long Term Plan – although many of them said they wanted to – because there was not enough time to do so and because there were so many new Councillors. Most of those new councillors, as well as most of the returning councillors, had told voters during the elections they would work to reduce rates.
“We say there was time and we wonder what instructions were given to staff when they started preparing options for this year’s annual plan some six months ago. We think they just did what they usually do and used cost plus budgeting- starting with last year’s spend and adding on additional costs. The earliest papers we’ve seen were papers presented in a closed briefing for councillors held on 16 December 2025. In those papers, a scenario for a rates increase of 5.66% was outlined. In a subsequent meeting that the public was able to attend on 5 February 2026, the options for savings were described by one council staff member as ‘low hanging fruit’.
“We have not seen any evidence that council staff were instructed to provide a comprehensive breakdown of spending required to maintain core services, followed by options for non-core or discretionary spending that could be scaled, delayed or stopped. If that had been done, then time would have been available for all councillors to explore different potential budgets, no matter whether they were new or not.
“We contrast this with the stance that newly elected Andrew Little took in Wellington. Faced with exactly the same time constraints as KCDC, once he found out how unaffordable Wellington rates were, he instructed Council officials to find way to trim the level of rates increase. In contrast our council did not change the proposed rates increases under the Annual Plan,” said Ms Harwood.
“Moreover, from what we observed, the process used during the 11 June Council meeting – and perhaps in previous meetings – was flawed. Councillors were asked to adopt the Annual Plan before agreeing to new fees and charges, even though adoption of the Annual Plan was dependent on formal agreement to those fees and charges. A couple of councillors raised concerns about the proposed increase in rents of over 10% for Older Peoples’ Housing and while they had indicated concerns previously in workshops, no new modelling had been forthcoming. There was quite a lot of discussion about possible actions to offset the impact of the increase but never-the-less, the increase remained.
“The issue around making changes was positioned as being problematic in getting the Annual Plan adopted in time to meet legislative timelines. We agree with the comment made by one councillor that the process was in fact a ‘tick-box’ exercise. In our view, no meeting should be a tick box exercise. All councillors should be able to exercise their democratic right to ask questions right up until a vote is taken”.
Harwood says, “Overall, the adoption of the Annual Plan means that Council has stuck with the intentions set three years ago in the current Long Term Plan. Council has proven to be unable to adjust to its plans even if circumstances have changed significantly for ratepayers and residents of Kapiti through a cost-of-living and the current fuel crisis”.
“So where to from here? The focus now moves to the development of the new Long Term Plan. Councillors are saying this is the opportunity to change the rates path for KCDC, and they are open to doing so. We’d like to feel confident about these statements.
“Let’s get engaged, let’s get our voices heard and let’s make sure our next Long Term Plan does not commit us to rates increases we just cannot afford. We will need to have clear conversations about the core services we really need Council to provide for us – and what would be nice to have if we can afford it. We need to have honest discussions about what we could downsize, delay or stop altogether. ”
We can’t let rate hikes at two to three times the rate of inflation continue to be the norm under the next long-term plan.”
Infometrics report for the Kapiti Coast District Council https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/media/pt3jaxgb/infometrics-kapiti-coast-rates-affordability report-for-publication.pdf
