Ratepayers in seven Southland District community board areas are looking at rises of between 17.5 and 75.8 per cent in their local community board rate next year, under draft budgets put to the boards this month.
The figures are early drafts for the council's Long Term Plan 2027–2037 (LTP, its 10-year budget). The boards can change them, and only the full Southland District Council can set rates. The draft plan is due out for public consultation in March 2027, with the final version adopted in June 2027.
The biggest jump is in Tuatapere. A report by a council finance business partner to the Tuatapere Te Waewae Community Board's 3 November meeting proposes lifting the urban full-charge rate from $412.54 to $725.35 including GST, an extra $312.81 a year, or 75.8 per cent. Semi-urban properties would go from $206.27 to $362.67, and rural properties from $103.13 to $181.34.
The proposed urban full-charge rates for the other boards, all including GST, are:
- Ardlussa: $279.50 to $436.11 (56.0 per cent)
- Northern: $373.72 to $586.03 (56.8 per cent)
- Wallace Takitimu: $348.44 to $476.33 (36.7 per cent)
- Ōreti: $242.26 to $317.04 (30.9 per cent)
- Stewart Island/Rakiura: $273.01 to $331.06 (21 per cent, a single rate)
- Ōraka Aparima: $251.85 to $295.94 (17.5 per cent)
Each report gives the same main reason: higher parks and reserves costs, with "additional funding required for maintenance contracts" as well as more spending on trees, hedges and general maintenance.
New community facilities maintenance contracts began on 1 July 2026. The Tuatapere report says the tender process finished too late for any higher costs to be included in this year's budgets. Under earlier board resolutions, the extra cost for 2026/27 is to be met from operating underspends first, then board reserves, then loans. The draft budgets assume the underspends will be enough.
In Tuatapere, mowing alone adds $97,525, a rise the report puts down to contract prices "following renewal". General maintenance goes up $21,319 and footpath maintenance $20,618. In total, the board's rate revenue would climb from $178,916 to $313,950 excluding GST.
The reports also remind boards that the government has proposed capping annual rates rises at 2 to 4 per cent, applying from 2029/30 if the law passes. "For this LTP, Council expects all budgets to remain within the 2-4% range," the Tuatapere report says. Where that can't be met, the reasons will be weighed in the overall budget review.
So far, only the Northern Community Board's minutes have been published. The unconfirmed minutes of its 2 November meeting in Lumsden record that the board found the proposed rise "not feasible nor sustainable".
Instead of the full increase, the board resolved to set its tree and hedge and general maintenance budgets at this year's level plus 10 per cent, and to pay for $13,000 of tree and hedge work from reserves. It recommended that the council collect $292,953 including GST through the Northern board rate in 2027/28. That compares with $366,087 in the staff draft and $231,588 this year, so it would still be a rise of about 26.5 per cent.
The minutes also record that the board does not support a separate council proposal to start funding depreciation on footpaths, open spaces and possibly airports, rising by 10 per cent a year until it is fully funded in 2036/37. That proposal is not yet in the draft budgets. For Tuatapere, the report estimates it would add about $18 per full unit in its first year.
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Users of the Te Anau rural water supply face a separate rise. A report by a senior finance business partner to the Te Anau Basin Water Supply Subcommittee on 3 November proposes lifting the total rate from $1,033,355 to $1,238,867 including GST, or 19.9 per cent. A full unit would go from $917.31 to $1,099.75. The reason there is different: the scheme moves to fully funding depreciation in 2027/28, up from 80 per cent, and maintenance, electricity and overhead costs are also higher.
Results from the Tuatapere, Ardlussa, Wallace Takitimu, Ōraka Aparima and Stewart Island meetings have not yet appeared in published minutes. The Ōreti board considers its budget on Tuesday 17 November in Winton.
The Herald has asked Southland District Council for comment.
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