Wellington City Council
Rates and revenue
The work of local government is funded mainly by property taxes in the local area, known as rates. This makes up around 60% of council expenditure, with the rest coming from user charges, investment income, regulatory fees and roading subsidies. Councils can also borrow money to spread the cost of large investments such as infrastructure over a longer period of time.
Rates and revenue
The work of local government is funded mainly by property taxes in the local area, known as rates. This makes up around 60% of council expenditure, with the rest coming from user charges, investment income, regulatory fees and roading subsidies. Councils can also borrow money to spread the cost of large investments such as infrastructure over a longer period of time.
Investigate new tools to incentivise growth in good locations, such as a new development levy regime or a land value rating system.
Maintain the council's share within Wellington International Airport noting its status as a natural monopoly and money earner for Wellington City Council.
Reassess how council uses debt limits to ensure asset and investment decisions are distributed fairly, accounting for the new water entity.
Commit to reducing the commercial differential for businesses to encourage more businesses to Wellington.
Commit to reviewing council services with an intention to remove duplicate services provided by either central government or private sector.
Review council investments with an intention to divest investments that do not align with council strategy or do not provide value for money.
Ensure that council debt remains below the 200% cap that council agreed as part of the long term plan and maintain the AA credit rating.
Monitor the disaster resilience fund that is being set up to maintain the proposed financial returns.
Work on a city deal that includes congestion charging, social housing, roading and resilience.
Prioritise financial planning to fund basic services and infrastructure before commitments are made on other projects.
Provide more information to the public about rates and other revenue, including who pays and where rates expenditure goes.
Review the very high business rate that is driving small businesses out of Wellington and support a suburban business rate for local businesses.
Keep rates low by cutting wasteful projects and focusing on essential services ratepayers rely on.
Review underused council assets and reinvest funds into infrastructure such as roads and water.
Scrutinise every dollar of spending to guarantee maximum value for ratepayers.
Apply financial management skills to the council's assets and debts and retain profitable assets to help offset rates increase.
Ensure that rate increases align with the inflation rate and do not exceed it.
Identify the council's core functions and shift responsibilities that do not belong to the council to the central government or seek funding.
Investigate new tools to incentivise growth in good locations, such as a new development levy regime or a land value rating system.
Maintain the council's share within Wellington International Airport noting its status as a natural monopoly and money earner for Wellington City Council.
Reassess how council uses debt limits to ensure asset and investment decisions are distributed fairly, accounting for the new water entity.
Commit to reducing the commercial differential for businesses to encourage more businesses to Wellington.
Commit to reviewing council services with an intention to remove duplicate services provided by either central government or private sector.
Review council investments with an intention to divest investments that do not align with council strategy or do not provide value for money.
Ensure that council debt remains below the 200% cap that council agreed as part of the long term plan and maintain the AA credit rating.
Monitor the disaster resilience fund that is being set up to maintain the proposed financial returns.
Work on a city deal that includes congestion charging, social housing, roading and resilience.
Prioritise financial planning to fund basic services and infrastructure before commitments are made on other projects.
Provide more information to the public about rates and other revenue, including who pays and where rates expenditure goes.
Review the very high business rate that is driving small businesses out of Wellington and support a suburban business rate for local businesses.
Keep rates low by cutting wasteful projects and focusing on essential services ratepayers rely on.
Review underused council assets and reinvest funds into infrastructure such as roads and water.
Scrutinise every dollar of spending to guarantee maximum value for ratepayers.
Apply financial management skills to the council's assets and debts and retain profitable assets to help offset rates increase.
Ensure that rate increases align with the inflation rate and do not exceed it.
Identify the council's core functions and shift responsibilities that do not belong to the council to the central government or seek funding.
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