NRC signals 0% increase in rates take next year

Northland Regional Council (NRC) has confirmed it is working towards a nil increase in its total rates take for the 2026/27 financial year, in response to ongoing financial challenges for our communities.

"In an era of rising costs and inflation, holding the line on rates is our tangible way of standing with our people and easing pressure where it’s needed," says NRC Chair Pita Tipene.

He says while final decisions on rating levels won’t be made until council’s Annual Plan for 2026/27 is adopted next year, councillors are determined and focused on freezing rating levels for the upcoming financial year.

"No increase doesn’t mean no investment. It’s about smarter, leaner spending and prioritising what’s critical," says Chair Tipene.

"That means living within our means and looking again at what our real core business is as a regional council."

He emphasises that the council had begun this process, with a goal of a 0% rise, before the recent announcement by central government that it plans to introduce a rate cap system.

"We didn’t need central government to prompt us in our approach," says Chair Tipene.

"We’ve been looking right across the council for savings and reductions that won’t deeply impact our overall levels of service, and we believe a 0% increase in rates take is achievable for the upcoming financial year."

He says the continued focus on reduced spending builds on council’s work last year to keep rates down, despite rising costs and inflation.

"Our 2025/26 increase of 3.54% was considerably lower than the 5.79% previously forecast. We were one of only a very small handful of councils across the entire country whose rates increases were below 5%."

Under council’s 2026/27 Annual Plan, while some levels of service would experience minor reductions, council’s overall work programmes would continue as planned says Chair Tipene.

"The work programme set out in our Long Term Plan in 2024 - and consulted on widely - remains largely unchanged."

"As a result, we’re not planning to consult on our Annual Plan 2026/27, as it’s not expected to contain any really significant changes to what's in that Long Term Plan."

"We think it’s better for our ratepayers to save the expense of re-consulting on things."

He says the council is still legally required to develop an Annual Plan for 2026/27, and the final plan and rates levels will be confirmed mid-2026 and publicly available shortly after.

Chair Tipene says it’s important to understand that a nil increase in total amount of rates collected by the council would look different for individual ratepayers. Individual rates bills can change year to year based on a range of things like property valuations and change in numbers of rateable properties.

Despite its decision not to consult on its Annual Plan, the council will be seeking feedback on its Draft User Fees and Charges for 2026/27, which is reviewed annually, from March next year.