FAQs about rates

A. Porirua City Council has to provide services and infrastructure for its 63,000 residents, but when compared to other cities with a similar population our size, we have considerably fewer ratepayers footing the bill. Porirua City Council has only 20,572 rateable properties to spread our costs over. A breakdown of the properties is provided below:

Therefore the same level of spending is shared among fewer people. Porirua also has fewer sources of income like airports, trusts, ports, property portfolios. In total 71% of Porirua’s cash revenue comes from rates compared with 47% on average across other councils in New Zealand.

Residents do want us to provide all our services and facilities and we are reluctant to reduce these without clear and strong direction from the community. The latest resident survey demonstrated 74% of residents were either very satisfied or satisfied with the public facilities provided and 63% of residents were either very satisfied or satisfied with Council’s overall services and facilities provided.

General rates relate to city-wide charges that everyone contributes towards. These are for services and facilities like libraries, parks, playgrounds, sports grounds, cemeteries, walkways, swimming pools, property, city events and public infrastructure. General rates are for services and facilities that are generally available, either directly or indirectly, to all ratepayers. These costs are shared across every ratepayer in the city.

Targeted rates relate to specific charges where those who directly use the services pay for theservices. Targeted rates include charges for drinking water, sewage disposal, recycling and city development. Targeted rates are set to fund a particular activity or service and they may be assessed on particular groups of ratepayers. For instance, residential and commercial ratepayers contribute to wastewater, drinking water, and sewage disposal costs. Rural ratepayers who are not connected to the city’s network do not pay for these costs.

Sometimes some of what our rates contribute to are often forgotten. All of the following examples rely on Council rates. When you turn your shower on in the morning, when you flush your toilet, when you drive to work, when you walk down to the park and play on a playground, or when you go down to one of the freshly mowed sportsfields. These are a few examples of the maintenance and ongoing upgrades Council undertakes to ensure you receive the services you expect from our city.

A. Council sets its budget every year and must manage its revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities, investments and general financial dealings prudently and in a manner that promotes the current and future interests of the community.

New activities, increased investment in infrastructure and the quality or quantity of our services – eg standards of our roading, rubbish collections – determine how much money the Council needs to collect. Unexpected demands like increased costs for insurance and unforeseen costs in response to emergency management and storms / flooding also add to annual rates increases.

The rates increase for 2025/26 is an average of 6.39% for existing residential properties. You can find out more:

• about how we set rates https://poriruacity.govt.nz/services/rates-property/rates/how-rates-are-decided

A. It is important to distinguish between the increases in rates revenue from year to year and the average rates increase. Our revenue increases reflect not only the impact of rates increases to the average existing ratepayer, but it also includes rates revenue received from the growth in new rateable properties each year – currently running around 0.57% per annum.

The total increase in rates in 2025/26 is 6.96% however the increase to existing ratepayers is 6.39%.

In the Annual Plan 2025/26, Council made a number of financial structural changes and efficiency savings to keep the rates increase as low as possible at 6.39%.

A. The table below shows the median rates increase of each rating category. Individual increases will vary based on the capital value of your property.

A. We have also included a table that provides a comparison between our different rating categories. The table below relates to a property with a capital valuation of $1.3 million. The table provides an estimate of rates for 2025/26 as a percentage of capital value.

*Targeted rates include kerbside recycling, water, city development, uniform annual general charge and sewage.

A. The current and future ratepayers each pay their fair share of the cost of the Council’s assets (eg water, wastewater, stormwater and roading assets) over the assets’ useful lives, so that the replacement costs are met by those ratepayers who have benefited from these assets. If current and future ratepayers do not each pay for their share, then an unfair debt burden will be placed on the other group.

A. Having a balanced budget means Council’s spending matches its income and so doesn’t create a deficit that needs to be funded by future generations.

In the Annual Plan 2025/26, Council made a number of financial structural changes and efficiency savings to keep the rates increase as low as possible at 6.39%.

This has resulted in the Annual Plan having a $13.9 million unbalanced budget as the Council defines it or a $9.0 million deficit as defined by the Local Government Act.

While running a budget deficit is not ideal, Council decided to consider the unfavourable financial position that many in our community find themselves in, along with the transition of three waters to a new entity from 1 July 2026. Council is required to prepare an amended Long-term Plan due to this significant structural change and Council will address balancing of the budget as part of this.

For 2025/26 Council believes a 6.39% rates increase achieves a delicate balance between setting a rates increase and balancing a budget.

A. Each rating unit (or property) is placed within a differential rating category, based on land use. Rates are calculated using these differentials. Differentials can be viewed as the percentage share each rating category pays. For example for every $1 a residential ratepayer pays in general rates, rural ratepayers will pay 80 cents and business ratepayers will pay $3.10.

Rates are calculated using the capital value of your property in relation to the total capital value of your rating category’s values. This will give your share of your rating category’s general rates.

For further detail on how we set our rates, refer to our Funding Impact Statement.

A. The general rates needed to support the city in 2025/26 rating year are projected at $90,827,000.
This amount is made up as follows:

A. The following table shows the projected annual average rates increase for the life of the Long-term Plan 2024–34.

A. The Council contracts Quotable Value to perform property revaluations every three years. The last revaluation was as at 1 October 2022. Quotable Value determines the value of your property by looking at the selling price of similar properties in the area. Valuations do not include chattels, such as carpets, drapes or light fittings.

The effective date for the next revaluation is 1 September 2025. We expect notices of the new valuations will be sent to owners around mid to late March 2026.

A. Yes. Simply email [email protected]advising them that you would like to have your rates invoices emailed, detailing the property account number or address and confirming the email address to be used.