The full Annual Plan document will be available here soon.
Read the Capital Programme for 2026 - 2027 (pdf 252 KB).
We have adopted our Annual Plan for 2026/2027, confirming a rates revenue increase of 9.9%. This reflects rising costs across the services we deliver, alongside continued investment in infrastructure and storm recovery.
Of the 9.9%, 2.3% is for flood recovery, 5.0% for Three Waters, and 2.6% for the rest of council business. This rates increase is consistent with the Government’s proposed rates cap, which excludes three waters and emergency recovery.
The coming year will bring continued change for local government, as councils respond to shifting expectations, ongoing sector reforms, and increasing financial pressures.
In Tasman, these pressures are being felt across our community and within the Council, while recovery from the June/July 2025 weather events remains ongoing.
Mayor Tim King says “These pressures are real and being felt across our District – in households, in businesses, and in the services our community relies on every day.”
We are facing increasing costs including higher interest rates, insurance, fuel and asset depreciation, alongside growing regulatory requirements and the need to continue investing in essential infrastructure.
Together, these factors are placing pressure on how services are delivered and funded.
Local government has limited ways to meet these responsibilities while keeping costs affordable. Decisions about rates, fees and charges, service levels, and investment all have real consequences. This Annual Plan reflects the care taken to manage those trade-offs while continuing to meet our obligations and focus on what matters most to the community.
To achieve this, we’ve made some difficult decisions to help reduce the impact on ratepayers. These include deferring three community facilities projects – the Tapawera Community Hub, Motueka Community Pool and Wakefield Hub – for further consideration through the upcoming 10-Year Plan process.
Mayor King emphasised that pausing these projects does not mean they have been scrapped.
“This is not a stop; there are a number of things to work through. We recognise how important these projects are and will continue to work closely with these communities to support their aspirations.”
Other changes in the Annual Plan include increasing most fees and charges by 7%, introducing a new rate to recover the costs of the 2025 weather events, adjusting operating budgets, using debt to fund some costs, and rephasing parts of the capital programme.
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