You should know

The council's Governing Body adopted the Long-term Plan 2024-2034 on 27 June 2024.

Visit Summary of the Long-term Plan 2024-2034 for updated rates changes.

Proposed changes to rates for 2024-2034

Your rates pay for a wide range of day-to-day services and support investment in Auckland’s infrastructure.

Under our central proposal, the annual rates increase for the average-value residential property over the 10 years of the long-term plan would be:

  • 7.5 per cent in year one
  • 3.5 per cent in year two
  • 8.0 per cent in year three
  • no more than 3.5 per cent for the years after that.

But there are alternatives. These are:

  • a 'pay less and get less' scenario with lower rates increases but reduced investment and fewer services
  • a 'pay more and get more' scenario with higher rates increases to provide for more or faster investment and higher service levels.

Pay less, get less

A ‘pay less, get less’ scenario could see average rates increases for residential ratepayers of around:

  • 5.5 per cent in year one
  • 3.5 per cent in years two and three
  • no more than one per cent above Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation in the years after.

Pay more, get more

A ‘pay more, get more’ scenario could require average rates increases for residential ratepayers of:

  • up to 14 per cent in year one
  • 10 per cent in years two and three
  • five per cent in the years after.

Decorative image of a man labelled central holding a bag in each hand labelled more and less.

Proposed changes to rates in financial year 2024/2025

We propose budget changes that will see a total rates increase for the average-value residential property of around 7.5 per cent or $271 a year ($5.21 a week) in the financial year 2024/2025. For the average-value business the increase will be around 8.9 per cent or $1690 a year ($32.50 a week).

Our proposed budget package also includes changes that will affect total rates bills including changes to:

Long-term Differential Strategy

We propose to discontinue the Long-term Differential Strategy which aimed to gradually lower the share of general rates paid by businesses and raise the share paid by other ratepayers.

Businesses will pay around 31 per cent of the general rates requirement in 2024/2025 and in future years, which is the same as last year. This will mean all ratepayers will face a similar level of general rates increase each year from 2024/2025.

Waste management services

We propose a 4.3 per cent increase for 2024/2025 in the combined targeted rates for the standard waste management services.

The Climate Action Transport Targeted Rate (CATTR)

The CATTR will increase on average by 3.5 per cent for 2024/2025.

Natural Environment Targeted Rate (NETR)

We propose to resume the Natural Environment Targeted Rate (NETR) and extend it to 2033/2034.

Water Quality Targeted Rate (WQTR)

We propose to resume the Water Quality Targeted Rate (WQTR) and extend it to 2033/2034 at a level that only covers the annual programme operating and interest costs.

Targeted rates business differentials

The amount of the NETR, WQTR and CATTR businesses will pay will rise from 25.8 per cent to 31 per cent for 2024/2025 and future years.

Final rates adoption

The final rates will be adopted in June 2024 after taking into consideration any cost changes since the long-term plan consultation including more up-to-date forecasts on inflation.