Draft Annual Budget 2023-24

We’re keen to hear your views on our proposed annual budget for 2023-24. 

Like you and the rest of the country, Palmerston North City Council is feeling the effects of the current global recession and cost of living increases. 

A significant portion of this year’s proposed total rates amount is from fixed cost payments. Interest rates have gone up significantly since this time last year. Just like the rising repayments you may be facing on your loans, the interest on our debts has also increased. Insurance and electricity bills are another unavoidable cost that have increased.

We’ve also seen inflation climbing over the last financial year. Just as you’ll have noticed a rise in the price of everyday things like groceries, we too are having to pay more to get the same amount of work done. We’re also finding it harder to find contractors to do the work, with a very tight construction market, and low unemployment.

These pressures mean there is little room to manoeuvre in setting this year’s budget. Riding out a couple of tough financial years has seen us again looking at every service, programme, and project on our books to find areas where we can reduce spending, or defer non-essential work. Page 8 of the consultation document talks about how we did this. 

As a result, we’re proposing a rate rise of 6.4% in total rates. This is less than the 8.3% increase signalled in Council’s 10-Year Plan. 

Look up the proposed rates for your property

Do you agree with our budget? What would you change? Do you agree with what projects we’ve delayed? Are there specific activities we should do more or less of? 

You can find the full details about what we're proposing and the programmes we're planning to deliver in the consultation document and supporting information.

Consultation Document: Annual Budget 2023-24(PDF, 3MB)

Supporting Information: Draft Annual Budget 2023-24(PDF, 4MB)

Proposed changes to fees and charges

The Annual Budget determines how much is needed to run our city’s services and facilities. 

Rates are an important part of how we fund our city, but we don’t rely on rates alone. We also get revenue from other sources. This chart shows the percentage rates contribute to running our city services and facilities.

Each year, in addition to working out what rates are required to fund the city, we review the fees and charges for services we believe should be user pays. For example: building or resource consents and permits, dog registration, burial and cremation, sportsground hire, trade waste disposal and rubbish bags.

Due to the increasing cost of delivering these services, many of these fees and charges will need to rise from 1 July this year. 

The fees we are consulting on are for trade waste, planning, and miscellaneous services. We consult with you on these fees each year. Council approved all other fees and charges for the year ahead at its meeting on 15 March 2023.

Consultation document: Trade Waste Fees 2023-24(PDF, 801KB)

Consultation document: Planning & Miscellaneous Fees 2023-24(PDF, 927KB)

Excerpt from Council report: Fees & Charges 2023-24(PDF, 727KB)