Whāia te pae tawhiti kia tata, whāia kia whakamaua!
Pursue the distant horizon until it draws close, until attained!
About the harakeke design featured in our draft plan
This draft Long Term Plan has carried through the theme from Ahu Ake – our Waipā Community Spatial Plan that is the blueprint for our district for the next 30 years.
That theme was inspired by Aotearoa’s harakeke (flax) plant – a native plant with a long history of being both beautiful and practical. Māori have long used the harakeke for a multitude of purposes, including kete (woven baskets).
to work, live and play. The weave creates strength, bringing together the past, present and future. The colours represent the different pillars in our district – including our people, our land, our environment, our wellbeing, and our waterways.
The kete is a design that while being useful also represents a creation of strength, beauty, tradition and future use. The act of weaving together the strong, often vibrant fibres that can be used by future generations, full of intricate detail, and able to be used in many ways. This is how we see Ahu Ake - Waipā Community Spatial Plan. It intricately weaves a future plan for the Waipā District, creating places and spaces where we are proud
Waipā District Council
This draft plan is a little different
This year is unique because this Long Term Plan only needs to cover a nine-year period rather than the usual 10. This is because in 2024, instead of adopting a Long Term Plan to cover the period up to 2034, we opted to adopt a one-year Enhanced Annual Plan. This means this year’s Long Term Plan only needs to cover the remaining period up to 2034.
We chose to adopt an Enhanced Annual Plan after the Government made this option available. This gave us more time to better understand changes to the Government waters reform programme and the financial challenges that presented for us, so we can make the best decisions for Waipā.
Those challenges remain.
A vastly different financial environment driven by significantly higher inflation and interest costs, a sharp economic slowdown, and much higher levels of debt, has placed limitations on what we can do. We don’t have the money to spend on cornerstone projects, so we don’t have any big-ticket items to consult with you on.
The average rates increase over the nine years of the plan is 5.9 per cent. The highest average rates increase is in the 2025/26 year at 15.5 percent, dropping down to 2.3 percent in the outer years. This year is unique as we are consulting with you separately on the future delivery of water services for our district. This will be a big decision for us to make. In fact, it is the biggest single decision we have had to make since Local Government reform in 1989.
Waipā District Council
The future of water services delivery
The Government has introduced its Local Water Done Well (LWDW) policy replacing the previous government’s three waters reform programme.
LWDW aims to:
• address how waters infrastructure across New Zealand is funded and delivered in a financially sustainable manner
• introduce a new regulatory regime for water services delivery, which sets out increased environmental, economic and human health standards and regulations
• support a sustainable workforce that is able to deliver on the forward investment programme and governance requirements.
Under the policy, all councils need to develop water services delivery plans by 3 September 2025. These plans must provide a current and long-term assessment of councils’ water infrastructure, outline the investment required to deliver on projected population growth and development needs, and how they plan to finance and deliver these plans through their preferred water services delivery model.
We have undertaken significant work in this space, obtaining expert advice and undertaking the due diligence we think is required to understand our options for water services delivery, and what is required to satisfy the requirements for a water services delivery plan.
That work identified three credible options, all of which would result in an asset-owning Council Controlled Organisation (CCO):
• Waikato Water Done Well with other rural/ provincial councils in the Waikato Region – this is our preferred option.
• A sub-regional CCO with Hamilton City and Waikato District Councils.
• A stand-alone option.
We are consulting on Waikato Water Done Well, and the status quo, as well as outline the other options that have been identified and evaluated, in our separate Local Water Done Well consultation. Consultation on the delivery model is being undertaken under the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024 to inform the development of the water services delivery plan. We are not required to consult on the plan itself.
Because no final decisions have been made on the future delivery of water services, and we are
yet to hear from our community on the separate water consultation, our Long Term Plan has been prepared on the basis of our existing in-house water services arrangements and includes costs for the nine years of the plan.
If the decision is made to proceed with a CCO, it is proposed Waipā’s water assets transfer on 1 July 2026. This would require an amendment to the Long Term Plan to reflect that decision.
We will continue to update you as Council progresses its proposals and decisions are made. In the meantime, we encourage you to have your say on our proposal for the future delivery of Waipā’s water services here waipadc.govt.nz/localwater-done-well
DISCLOSURE:
This Long Term Plan consultation document is based on underlying financial information that retains water services. As permitted under the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024, the Council is consulting separately on its preferred future arrangements for water services.
The Council’s proposed approach is to establish a water CCO. However, this is subject to the outcome of community consultation and a final Council decision. This means that the underlying financial information relating to water services in this consultation document differs to the financial information presented in the Council’s water services consultation material.
While generally accepted accounting practice is to base information on the latest information available at the time, we are genuine in our commitment to consult with our community, and do not want to pre-determine the outcome before consultation has taken place.
Key assumptions
We’ve had to make some key assumptions for the purposes of this draft plan while we wait for some big decisions to be made
The key assumptions we have made are:
• Waipā will continue to experience higher rates of population growth and industrial growth. This will result in increased development contribution revenue and more rateable properties.
• As a high growth council, we can borrow a higher amount from the Local Government Funding Agency. See page 27.
• We have our priorities right – our community will want us to focus on maintaining our existing infrastructure and looking after what we have.
• That our capital works programme will progress in-line with budgets as provided for through this Long Term Plan.
DISCLOSURE: We have included a substantial capital works programme in the draft plan in line with Council budgets. However, there are a number of internal and external factors (including financial constraints, supply chain issues, project delivery resourcing) which could impact on its delivery. Failure to deliver on the capital works programme could result in Council failing to deliver on agreed levels of service, increased risk of asset failure, not meeting community expectations and ensuring that infrastructure is provided on a timely basis to meet growth expectations and needs. To mitigate risks, the capital works programme will be reforecast through annual plans to determine what is realistically able to be delivered in accordance with budgets and timeframes.
About this draft plan
Our vision, Waipā Home of Champions: Building connected communities, is all about making the
place we call home a great place to live so you, your whānau, friends, workmates and neighbours can thrive.
This consultation document outlines what we are looking at over the next nine years to achieve this vision, and we need your feedback!
It doesn’t include every project we’ll be working on but gives you an overview of projects or issues that have a significant cost, have high community interest, or are different from what we said we would do in our last Long Term Plan.
Your feedback will help the Mayor and Councillors, who represent you and your whānau, make final decisions on behalf of the community.
You can also find all of this information and have your say at waipadc.govt.nz/2025-34-long-termplan
While you’re there, you can check out exactly how your own property rates might look by using our online rates calculator waipadc.govt.nz/ratescalculator
You’re also welcome to give us a call on 0800 WAIPADC and we can let you know what our proposed plan means for you.
What exactly is a Long Term Plan?
A Long Term Plan is one of our most important planning tools. It sets out what Council plans to do – and how it’ll be paid for. It includes detailed information on the activities, services and projects we intend delivering, when we will deliver them, where and how. It also includes the detail around our funding and financial management.
Ultimately, our draft plan tells you what your rates may look like for the next nine years. By law, we must review our Long Term Plan every three years.
So how does it all work?
May June June July June
We seek your feedback for a month, starting Friday May 9, 2025
Consultation closes at 5pm on Monday June 9, 2025
You can present to the Mayor and Councillors at hearings which will take place on June 17 and 18 (if required) 2025
Deliberations will take place on June 19, 2025
Council confirms the Long Term Plan for 2025-34
Waipā District Council
A continued focus on building connected communities
The outcomes we want to achieve for Waipā are centred on achieving our vision to build connected communities.
With that in mind, in partnership with our communities, we have developed Ahu Ake - Waipā Community Spatial Plan. This is our key strategic planning document and the blueprint for the next 30+ years. It provides the foundation for all our future planning, prioritisation, investment, and the delivery of services and projects across the whole of our organisation.
Delivering Ahu Ake requires the Council to take new and different approaches that emphasise collaboration, support and reliance on partners, agencies and community groups over time to be able to achieve the plan’s transformational key moves.
To further build on this work, we have developed an ‘Anchor Institution Framework and Implementation Plan’. This is a well-established approach in the United Kingdom and United States. It is a globally recognised ‘smart’ approach which utilises the role, strengths, scale and influence of ‘anchors’ to deliver effective outcomes for the community.
‘Anchors’ are large, place-based organisations that are intrinsically linked to their communities and are pivotal to their success and wellbeing. They have a long term and enduring commitment to a place, playing a vital role in local economies. They can be large scale employers, major purchasers, have control of substantial landholdings or assets, and are often non-profit or public sector organisations. They include organisations like councils, hospitals, universities and schools.
At a local level, the Anchor Institution Framework focuses on procurement, employment, workforce development, cluster anchors, community collaboration and community assets and infrastructure. It will help to ensure that as an organisation we work efficiently and effectively, leveraging local strengths to address local challenges and opportunities to create resilient, thriving, vibrant and connected communities
All of our strategies, plans, policies, activities and work programmes will be shaped to successfully deliver on Council’s community outcomes and updated strategic priorities.
Community outcomes and external strategic priorities
We are growing…and fast!
We are fortunate to live in a district where people want to live, work, play and invest. By 2034, we’re expecting 74,1651 people to call Waipā home.
That means more than another 7,000 new houses will be needed over the nine year period2, and they will house an average of 2.4 people – that’s down from an occupancy rate of 2.583 used previously.
But it is not only homes we plan for as we continue to build connected communities, it’s workplaces too. We’re expecting significant demand for industrial development so we’ve provided 130 hectares of land for industrial and commercial development in Cambridge and Te Awamutu, with further development of a ‘hub’ at Hautapu, as part of this draft plan. This is needed to satisfy the growing industrial needs as the population of Cambridge continues to increase and with constrained supply of industrial land elsewhere in the Waikato region. More infrastructure is needed to help this growth occur however this is driven by the market and is largely outside Council’s control. If this growth is delayed, and income from development contributions - and the increased number of rateable properties - is not consistent with our expectations, we may not be able to fund other works programmes if our debt levels remain high.
We’re required by the Government to plan for growth, and it costs a lot! We have to invest in key infrastructure to serve those homes. So, while growth pays for growth eventually, there is sometimes a lag between work being done, such as upgrading the Cambridge and Te Awamutu wastewater treatment plants or putting in a collector road, and when we are paid for it (after sections go to market and sell).
DID YOU KNOW:
The Government put in rules to free up land for housing and classified us as a ‘tier one’ growth council. That means we need to plan for at least 30 years of housing demand!
Getting ready for growth
Before any land is developed, houses are built or roads are created, we plan how and where everything will go and what the area will look like. We call this a structure plan, which we’ve developed for parts of Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Kihikihi and Ōhaupō.
Then we develop master plans to determine what sort of pipes we need to install for water, wastewater, and stormwater services, how roading intersections and pathways will be laid out, and what areas will be identified as green spaces. As much as possible we apply a “just in time” approach to ensure the delivery of planned infrastructure is in alignment with the expected demand in the area.
Waipā District Council
Growth-related debt
Building the infrastructure required for us to support existing and new residential, commercial and industrial growth areas has cost $226.5 million over the past three years.
It is expected to cost us another $199.9 million over the next three years.
The total growth-related debt forecast to be payable by developers at the start of this plan is $251.8 million.
While things have been tight, green shoots are starting to appear, and we need to ensure we not only plan for today, but also for the future.
Sometimes we grow faster than planned
Due to the current plan change programme, and multiple private plan changes, we expect some growth cells currently zoned rural - or scheduled for development post-2035 - to be developed earlier than planned. As a result, these areas are expected to contribute development contribution revenue during the period of this Long Term Plan.
From 2028/29 onwards, we expect to receive development contribution revenue from growth areas not currently included in the Development Contributions Policy.
For example, areas like the C10 growth cell (east of the Hautapu Industrial Precinct), which has $42 million in projected revenue is already partly uplifted (57 hectares) and progressing through a development agreement, with a private plan change underway to uplift an additional 105 hectares.
Our Draft Development Contributions Policy
When developers want to develop land in the Waipā District, they are charged fees in line with our Development Contributions Policy.
This is to ensure they pay a share of growth-related infrastructure costs. They contribute towards infrastructure like roading and water projects needed to ensure new subdivisions get the services they need to make them ‘liveable’.
We consult on the policy every three years. In this Long Term Plan we are proposing the following changes:
• adjustments to assumptions on standard section sizes and industrial demand generators
• updates to three waters demand tables
• introduction of a range of dwelling sizes to reflect the likely impact on infrastructure
• development agreement extension terms
• minor improvements
• provisions for papakāinga developments
• adjustments to development contributions based on the above changes.
You can read our Draft Development Contributions Policy here waipadc.govt.nz/draft-2025development-contributions-policy
The methodology we have used to develop the policy and the analysis of options can be read here waipadc.govt.nz/methodology
Climate change –a global challenge!
We expect climate change to continue to significantly impact our social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing. We recognise our responsibility to address this challenge and help build a resilient future for our district.
In 2019, we formally acknowledged climate change as a core issue for our district. Since then, it has been identified as a ‘Top Risk’ for the Council and remains a strategic priority woven through all of our work programmes.
Through the draft Long Term Plan, we aim to build on the foundational work already undertaken and continue on a path toward being an environmentally sustainable and economically prosperous district.
A key focus of our efforts is the Council’s comprehensive climate change risk assessment. This work evaluates physical risks, such as flooding, drought, and extreme weather events, and their implications for our infrastructure and how we deliver our services. It will also examine potential ‘transitional risks’ which are wider risks to the district and community. These could be things like economic and regulatory changes associated with the shift to a low-carbon future, and their potential impacts on our district, such as supply chain disruptions and changes to agricultural practices. By understanding these risks, we are aiming to be better positioned to plan for climate adaptation and ensure our community remains resilient in the face of change. To guide our ongoing response, we are also developing a Climate Change Strategy.
This strategy will consolidate current and future actions over the next decade, providing a coordinated and transparent approach to addressing climate risks and opportunities. It will serve as a framework to guide decision-making and enable the community to hold us accountable for progress.
By driving adaptation responses in preparation for climate impacts, and supporting mitigation efforts that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the strategy will aim to ensure a sustainable and resilient future for our district.
Alongside the development of our Climate Change Strategy and ongoing risk assessments, we are already taking practical steps to respond to climate change. Key examples include:
• Embedding carbon impact assessments into our project business cases to ensure emissions are considered in decision-making.
• Updating activity management plans and work programmes to incorporate climate change considerations. This includes targeted actions already underway to strengthen the resilience of our water, wastewater, stormwater, transport, and other infrastructure, which already include upgrades to things like water treatment plants, culverts, and the types of road materials we use.
Waipā District Council
Our finances Balancing the books
A Council budget is very different from a household budget for many reasons. While our overall aim is to balance the books (meaning the money we receive equals the money we spend), this is not always possible on a year-to-year basis due to the different types of ways we receive income.
Under the Local Government Act 2002, local authorities are required to set ‘balanced budgets’, where operating revenue (income) is equal to operating expenditure. Council can only set an unbalanced budget if this can be shown to be financially prudent.
We’re proposing to have an ‘unbalanced budget’ in the first three years of this plan. This means that the revenue received each year will be less than the expenses for that year.
Council resolved that this decision is financially prudent, and we will be able to manage operating and capital expenditure and our debt – but we will be closely monitoring and reviewing our risks over this time.
The reasons for the unbalanced budget in the earlier years of this plan are:
• To manage the level of rates increases over the nine-year period of the plan. We have drawn down on all the reserves we had to reduce the average rates increases.
• Some of our operating projects are funded over a longer term through loans. These projects are carefully selected and provide a benefit
to ratepayers over a number of years. We have funded projects such as Ahu Ake, Waipā Community Spatial Plan and the legally required District Plan review through loans rather than rates.
• We are proposing not to fund the total asset depreciation expense in some years of this plan. Annual depreciation, which is reflected as an expense in each year, provides a guide on the amount of money that should be collected each year to fund the replacement of assets at the end of their life. Depreciation is funded directly from rates. For some assets, such as our district pools, we decide at the start of construction to have an unfunded portion of depreciation each year as the replacement of these assets will likely be on a co-funded basis with community groups or key organisations in our district. Further to this, we have elected on a short-term basis not to fund the full depreciation costs for some of our other asset categories in some years of this plan. Where this is the case, it has been corrected in later years. Details of this can be found in the Financial Information section of the draft Long Term Plan.
Fixing the balance sheet
We’ve invested a lot of money in critical infrastructure over recent years such as the new Parallel Road Water Treatment Plant and water pipeline across to the western side of the district, a new Cambridge pool, a new Te Awamutu Library and servicing new subdivisions due to the level of growth in the district.
Debt is seen as the best way to finance these types of projects so the costs do not fall wholly on one generation of ratepayers when the assets will be used across multiple generations. Debt repayment and the cost of renewals is met by funding depreciation and this achieves ‘intergenerational equity’, with ratepayers paying their fair share of the costs as we go.
As anticipated in earlier years, our debt has had to grow substantially to meet our legal and practical obligations to provide for a growing dynamic community. Our debt levels are almost at maximum levels. There is a key relationship between the total amount we can borrow and our revenue - we have to comply with a net debt to revenue ratio to be able to raise new finance.
In response, our Draft Financial Strategy for this plan, ‘fixes our balance sheet’ by ensuring we are collecting the rates we need to fund our operating costs and to keep our debt levels sustainable over time.
Debt will continue to rise over the early years of the plan and decline in the later years.
We appreciate any rates increase can put pressure on household budgets, but we need to ensure we are a responsible, effective Council for both current and future generations. It is a tricky balance especially in challenging economic times.
Our Draft Financial Strategy
Our Draft Financial Strategy outlines the Council’s overall approach to planning and managing its finances in a way that is sustainable over the long term.
It is a central component of Council’s draft Long Term Plan. The Draft Financial Strategy sets our limits on rates increases and debt, illustrates the overall financial implications of decisions made in the Long Term Plan and is key in demonstrating prudent financial management.
Over the next nine years, we are planning a huge investment of ratepayer and developer dollars so it’s important this money is spent in the context of a well-considered Financial Strategy.
We also want to ensure that rates are affordable over time, for both current and future ratepayers, and we have included an affordability measure within our strategy. This is a threshold of no more than five per cent of median household income to measure rates affordability for all Council activities. Within that, there is a two per cent threshold for the cost of water and wastewater. See page 26 for more information on rates affordability.
You can read our Draft Financial Strategy: waipadc.govt.nz/2025-34-financial-strategy
Key components of the strategy are in the making cents of Council Dollars page 18.
Looking ahead even further - the next 30 years
To manage all of this, we have a Draft Infrastructure Strategy which sets out the 30-year plan for managing our infrastructure and meeting the long-term infrastructure needs of our district. The strategy details what key infrastructure is required, when it is planned to be provided, and how much it will cost.
You can read our Draft Infrastructure Strategy here: waipadc.govt.nz/2025-34draft-infrastructure-strategy
We’ve needed to prioritise
Due to the financial environment, it is a challenge to balance the expectations from the community and the affordability of services for both the community and Council both now and into the future.
As part of our infrastructure planning, we have applied a suite of prioritisation principles.
Firstly, we need to ensure we meet our legislative and compliance requirements and secondly, we want to ensure that we look after our existing assets. This also includes meeting our future growth requirements for the district.
While financial constraints have meant that we have needed to reduce our programme to renew some of our assets in the shorter term, by year nine, we plan to have completed any deferred works and be delivering our future renewal programme in line with our asset management planning. We are not planning any changes to our levels of service.
And ultimately, over the longer term, we need to ensure that all investment is aligned with the Ahu Ake – Waipā Community Spatial Plan that you, our community, helped shape.
Investment that...
Maintains existing levels of service Looks after our existing assets Supports meeting legislative and compliance requirements
This has meant we have had to make some tough decisions about some key cornerstone projects that we know are important to our communities.
These are the big ones that we’d love to deliver for our community:
• Te Ara Wai – A cultural centre socialising Waipā’s unique history, land wars stories, and the district
• a new Cambridge Library
• any additional refurbishments for the Cambridge Town Hall
• Te Awamutu to Pirongia Cycleway.
But we don’t have the money for these cornerstone projects right now.
We have included some operating funding though to help keep the projects ‘alive’ while we wait for our financial situation to improve. We have allocated Te Ara Wai $137,500 in 2025/26 and 2026/27 to allow conversations with iwi and preliminary planning to continue, $75,000 for the Cambridge Library in 2025/26 and $621,000 over the nine years for the Cambridge Town Hall to honour our service level agreement with the operating trust. These figures are adjusted in later years to account for inflation. There is no allocated operating funding for the Te Awamutu to Pirongia Cycleway.
Other projects considered but not funded are:
• Holmes Garage – development into a market and events space in Te Awamutu
• Pirongia halls – to progress outcomes of the feasibility study into future use
• kerbside food waste service – a food scrap collection to minimise waste
• sports field lease model – a proposal to transfer management of sports fields from clubs to Council in the future.
Aligns to Ahu Ake
Waipā District Council
What we plan to deliver over the next nine years (2025-34)
Taking all these elements into consideration and through applying our prioritisation principles we are planning to spend $2.7 billion of operating and capital expenditure over the next nine years.
As well as ensuring we are looking after our existing assets, we also need to spend more than $373.2 million on growth projects (like water infrastructure and roads) to make sure we meet our legislative requirements associated with providing for future growth and are ready for all the new people moving to Waipā.
• In the 2025/26 year, the average rates increase for all rate types after growth is 15.5 per cent.
• The amount we collect in rates revenue is 67 per cent of our total revenue in the 2025/26 year (year one of the plan).
Here is some more detail about what we are planning to deliver for our communities across our core activities.
Transportation
We’ll be spending $89.2 million in capital costs on renewing our roads and nearly $17.2 million on maintaining footpaths and cycleways in Waipā to provide for multi-modes of transport and effective placemaking. We have re-prioritised our workplan based on the outcome of condition assessments, particularly those in high traffic areas following the significant reduction in NZ Transport Agency subsidies. We expect our subsidy from NZ Transport Agency to remain at 51 per cent for qualifying projects and activities over the nine years. If this is not the case, we will need to review our work programmes. Any changes will be reflected in future annual or long term plans.
Wastewater treatment and disposal
We have two wastewater treatment plants – one in Cambridge and one in Te Awamutu – to treat wastewater from 14,477 connected properties. Our wastewater network has almost 304.1 kilometres of wastewater mains and 67 pump stations.
Nearly $170 million will be invested in wastewater infrastructure development. This includes $109.8 million to upgrade pump stations and our wastewater treatment plants. Just over $44.4 million will be spent on the remaining construction of the new wastewater
treatment plant for Cambridge, and $55 million on a planned upgrade of the plant for Te Awamutu which is expected to be completed in 2030/31.
Property
Around $7.6 million will be spent on maintaining our buildings and almost $2.6 million has been budgeted for the restoration of the Cambridge Water Tower should that progress.
Water treatment and supply
We’ll have seven water treatment plants supplying water to over 17,676 properties through 575 kilometres of water mains and pipes.
We have budgeted $214.4 million for infrastructure to treat and supply water.
Playgrounds
We are expecting to spend $2.1 million to maintain playgrounds across the district.
Community services and facilities
We are planning to spend $148.2 million in capital on community services and facilities in the next nine years.
We have budgeted $6.6 million to buy land to provide for new cemeteries and $4.2 million to maintain and expand capacity in our existing cemeteries where possible.
We have also allowed $4.3 million for a new dog pound in Cambridge to meet health and safety requirements, animal welfare standards, and the increasing numbers of animals being impounded.
Planned capital spending in our parks and reserves, includes, amongst other:
• $0.8 million implementing the Sainsbury Road Reserve Management Plan
• $5.1 million on erosion control, improving environmental outcomes and enhancing the amenity value of council owned land along Waipā water ways, starting with Mangaohoi and Mangapiko Streams
• $4.1 million progressing the implementation of concept plans for Te Awamutu Memorial Park and Lake Te Koo Utu in Cambridge
• $0.2 million to complete work at Leamington Domain.
$148.1m Community facilities
$282.4m Roads and footpaths
$214.4m Water Capital expenditure total spend over the nine years
$35.8m Support services
Making cents of council dollars
Let’s take a look at the numbers! This section provides a summary of our key financial information for the next nine years.
Where the money comes from
In the first three years of this plan up to 75 per cent of our revenue comes from rates. This drops back to 65 per cent from year four. A large portion comes from other sources like fees and charges (when someone pays for a Council service they use), government subsidies, development contributions and grants.
What it means for you
Below are some examples of the increases for a range of capital valuations and property types across the district for the next three years, based on our draft plan. These values are shown inclusive of GST. *SUIP - separately used or inhabited property
Cambridge Ward (Residential)
Rural Residential Cambridge
Rural Residential Te Awamutu
Ōhaupō Village
Rates (increases) affordability
How the rates are looking over the next nine years
This graph shows the forecast rates increases for the average Waipā ratepayer. We set a limit on our average annual rates increases. The following graph shows that we are forecast to stay below this limit for each of the nine years.
Rates
Rates (income) affordability
The amount we propose to collect in rates in the 2025/26 year is 67 per cent of our total revenue. The following graph shows we are forecast to meet this benchmark as the planned rates income is less than the quantified limits on rates for each of the nine years. Quantified
Waipā District Council
Debt
As a council, we need to borrow money to pay for some of our bigticket items.
Borrowing lets us get important things done now while paying the costs back in an affordable way, over time. Think of it like a mortgage on a house. You have use of it today but you pay that loan back over time in more affordable chunks.
Debt is a fair way of spreading the cost across the generations that will benefit from the projects. It would not be fair for the whole cost of a project to be carried by ratepayers living in Waipā in the year the project is completed. And it wouldn’t be affordable.
We do not generally borrow to pay for our operating costs, apart from operating costs with a multigenerational impact i.e. district plan amendments and long term strategies such as the Ahu Ake, Waipā Community Spatial Plan. These are things like electricity, fuel and supporting what the business needs to run effectively.
Debt levels against our debt limits
Council meets the debt affordability benchmark if our planned borrowing is within Council’s set limit on borrowing. The limit is set at net debt being no more than 3.5 times our total revenue to be consistent with the bespoke lending covenant we have been granted by the Local Government Funding Agency as a high growth council. The covenant has a number of conditions including a review of the covenant if debt is moved to a waters CCO. Additionally, for the preparation of the Long Term Plan, Council has a planning covenant of 3.3 times its revenue. This ensures a buffer between the planning limit of 3.3 times our revenue versus our actual ability to borrow up to 3.5 times our revenue.
This graph shows our level of debt at the end of each year and how those levels compare with our set prudent debt limits.
Debt affordability
How did we get here?
The debt levels reflected in the graph above are significantly higher than those anticipated in the 2021-31 Long Term Plan. The graphic below explains the key factors in this increase. Blue bars represent growth related debt, purple bars relate to other debt.
Debt growth between Long Term Plan periods
Can Council afford to pay it back?
Debt is one of the few tools Local Government has to fund big capital projects.
Just like when you take out a mortgage, we too need to prove that we will have enough revenue to pay our loans back, and that it is affordable and within our means.
And, like a bank, the Local Government Funding Agency, which loans us the money we need to undertake capital expenditure projects, has measures that we must meet in order to borrow money and to ensure that we are being prudent in our approach. The costs of our larger projects are spread out over a 30-year loan period – just like a home loan. This makes it manageable.
How much can Council borrow?
As a high growth council, we have been approved by the Local Government Funding Agency to borrow 3.5 times a tightly defined measure of our revenue which excludes items like vested assets, development and capital contributions. This gives us a comfortable level of ‘headroom’ (think of it like not borrowing up to your credit limit). We need this headroom should any unexpected costs arise such as addressing the impact of a natural disaster or if
there are cost overruns that are beyond our control
If we tried to borrow above the 3.5 times, we would likely not be able to, or we would be charged significantly higher interest rates, so we don’t see that as a viable option.
Because of our debt levels, we have paused a number of cornerstone projects until the next Long Term Plan in two years’ time. We are hoping between now and when we consult with you on that plan, we will have less debt on our books. However, we think it’s important to signal now that without major change we are unlikely to be in a position to invest in cornerstone projects for several years.
Did you know?
Waipā District Council has maintained its AA- stable outlook credit rating from international rating agency Fitch rating since June 2019!
You can read our full Draft Financial Strategy and other supporting documents at waipadc.govt. nz/2025-34-financial-strategy
Funding and financial policies
We’re proposing to make some changes to the following funding and financial policies. The key changes are as follows:
Rates Remission and Postponement of Rates and Water Charges Policy
• It is proposed that a remission on penalties will be granted if payment is received within 14 days rather than the current seven days providing that the ratepayer has made no late payments for rates within the current rating year, a reduction from the current three year time period.
• For remissions on water bills caused by a water leak, a remission request must be submitted within six months from the water leak repair.
• With regard to the remission of rates on Māori freehold land, the draft policy now reflects the principles contained in the preamble to the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 as required by section 102(3A)(a) the Local Government Act 2002.
Revenue and Financing Policy
• Changes are proposed to the percentage of cost recovery for Council’s fees and charges.
• The district wide funding portion of water, wastewater and stormwater activities has been removed. Funding will be generated through targeted user charges and volumetric rates in line with the legislative direction of the Government’s Local Waters Done Well policy.
• Over the last six years, Council has been moving to have the district wide funding requirement
funded only through the general rate (rated on capital value) and the uniform annual general charge, and without the portion of the targeted area rate that applied previously. With this Long Term Plan, Council has completed this phased shift. The draft policy has been updated to reflect this.
• A targeted rate has been introduced for kerbside refuse collection. This new rate will only be introduced once the service is up and running which is currently planned for 2029/30.
• The draft policy now reflects the principles contained in the preamble to the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 as required by section 102(3A)(a) the Local Government Act 2002.
Treasury Management Policy
• There have been wording changes related to hedging. These can be found on pages 6 and 7 of the draft policy.
• The policy has been redrafted to make it more straightforward for the community to understand.
We think these changes ensure improved cost recovery, compliance with our legal requirements and greater fairness for our ratepayers.
To view the draft policies, go to the waipadc.govt. nz/2025-34-long-term-plan
For your information
What? Rubbish!
During consultation on the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan in 2023, we were asked to explore a Council-run refuse collection – that’s a fancy word for rubbish!
We’ve done some preliminary investigations into offering a service and have included $26.5 million from the 2028/29 year onwards in this draft Long Term Plan but we still have more work to do.
We will be seeking further feedback when we consult on the 2027-37 Long Term Plan.
How we measure our performance
Monitoring our financial and non-financial performance is an important part of our strategic
framework. It’s a continuous process with the end goal of continuing to improve the services and activities we deliver to our communities.
The delivery of services to our community is a cyclical process of determining what we want to achieve, measuring our progress and then adjusting accordingly.
Every four months we report to the community against many of these measures, and once a year we complete a comprehensive “annual report” which outlines how we delivered against the Annual Plan.
You can find a full list of our performance measures here: waipadc.govt.nz/2025-34-draftperformance
Waipā District Council
Question time...
We want to hear what you think.
Do we have our priorities right?
For example, balancing our budget, paying down debt, and focusing on renewals.
Our Draft Infrastructure Strategy focuses on renewals and looking after what we have. Do you agree that is the right approach?
Do you agree with the principles we have used to prioritise our plan for the next nine years?
Do you agree with the proposed changes to the Draft Development Contributions Policy?
Is there any other feedback you would like to share?
The objectives of our Draft Financial Strategy are:
• fixing the balance sheet – ensuring we collect the rates we need to fund operating costs and keep our debt levels sustainable over time
• continuing to deliver value to our communities
• achieving more together through partnerships and collaboration
• staying focused on the longer term and bigger picture
• considering alternative funding and financing options
• providing for growth
• maintaining existing levels of service
• renewing and upgrading ageing infrastructure
• responding to climate change.
Do we have it right?
Do you agree with the proposed changes to the Draft Remission and Postponement of Rates and Water Charges Policy, Draft Revenue and Financing Policy and Draft Treasury Management Policy?
Do you agree the measures we use give you a full picture of our performance?
How to have your say:
Tell us what you think!
You have until 5pm, Monday June 9 to have your say!
Anyone can make a submission on this consultation document. Here’s how: Visit waipadc.govt.nz/2025-34-long-term-plan to share your views online.
Email your submission to haveyoursay@waipadc. govt.nz with Long Term Plan Submission in the subject line.
Fill out the hard copy submission form and drop it into one of our service centres at 101 Bank Street, Te Awamutu or 23 Wilson Street, Cambridge.
Come and find out more!
Post it to: Long Term Plan Submission, Waipā District Council, Private Bag 2402, Te Awamutu, 3840.
Friday, May 16 – Te Awamutu Sports Rugby Club – 5.30pm - 7pm
Saturday, May 17 - Cambridge Farmers Market - 8am -12pm
Wednesday, May 21 - Cambridge Council Office - 4.30pm - 6pm
Friday, May 23 - Cambridge BNZ pop-up - 11.30am - 1pm
Saturday, May 24 – Ōhaupō Rugby Sports Club – 1pm - 1.45pm
Sunday, May 25 - Pirongia Markets - 9am -1pm
Tuesday, May 27 - Pak n Save Te Awamutu pop-up - 3pm - 4.30pm
Wednesday, May 28 - Te Awamutu Council Office - 4.30pm - 6pm Saturday, May 31 - Parallel Water Treatment Plant Event - 10am - 2pm
To the reader
Independent Auditor’s Report on Waipā District Council’s consultation document for its proposed 2025-34 Long-term Plan
I am the Auditor-General’s appointed auditor for Waipā District Council (the Council). The Local Government Act 2002 (the Act) requires the Council to prepare a consultation document when developing its Long-term Plan. Section 93C of the Act sets out the content requirements of the consultation document and requires an audit report on the consultation document. I have carried out this audit using the staff and resources of Audit New Zealand. We completed our audit on 8 May 2025.
Adverse opinion
In our opinion, because of the significance of the matters described in the basis for adverse opinion section of our report, the consultation document does not provide an effective basis for public participation in the Council’s decision-making process about the content of its Long-term Plan. This is because the information and assumptions underlying the forecast information in the plan are not based on the best available information or supported by underlying evidence.
Basis for adverse opinion
Assumption over water services assets
As outlined on page 5 of the consultation document, the Council is consulting on the future of water services, and notes its preferred option is to establish a joint Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) with neighbouring councils.
However, in the information that supports the consultation document, the Council has assumed it will retain water services. We consider the assumption unreasonable because the Council’s preferred option is to establish a separate CCO, which will see drinking water and wastewater activities and assets and any associated debt being transferred out of the Council from 1 July 2026. We expect the consultation document to be prepared using the best information available to the Council.
Assumption over population growth, household occupancy rates, and industrial development
Page 10 and 11 of the consultation document outlines the Council’s population growth, household occupancy rates, and industrial development growth assumptions over the period of the Long-term Plan.
The Council could not provide us with adequate evidence to support these assumptions. Furthermore, the Council could not demonstrate that it has consistently applied assumptions about population growth, household occupancy rates, and industrial development to the financial forecasts underpinning the consultation document.
The above matters are pervasive given the nature and significance of the services and assumptions to the rates increases, development contribution revenue, assets, debt, and operating and capital expenditure in the forecast underlying information supporting the consultation document.
Basis of opinion
We carried out our work in accordance with the International Standard on We carried out our work in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (New Zealand) 3000 (Revised) Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information. In meeting the requirements of this standard, we took into account particular elements of the Auditor-General’s Auditing Standards and the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3400 The Examination of Prospective Financial Information that were consistent with those requirements.
We assessed the evidence the Council has to support the information and disclosures in the consultation document. To select appropriate procedures, we assessed the risk of material misstatement and the Council’s systems and processes applying to the preparation of the consultation document.
We did not evaluate the security and controls over the publication of the consultation document.
Responsibilities of the Council and auditor
The Council is responsible for:
• meeting all legal requirements relating to its procedures, decisions, consultation, disclosures, and other actions associated with preparing and publishing the consultation document and Long-term Plan, whether in printed or electronic form;
• having systems and processes in place to provide the supporting information and analysis the Council needs to be able to prepare a consultation document and Long-term Plan that meet the purposes set out in the Act; and
• ensuring that any forecast financial information being presented has been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand.
We are responsible for reporting on the consultation document, as required by section 93C of the Act. We do not express an opinion on the merits of any policy content of the consultation document.
Independence and quality management
We have complied with the Auditor-General’s independence and other ethical requirements, which incorporate the requirements of Professional and Ethical Standard 1 International Code of Ethics for Assurance Practitioners (including International Independence Standards) (New Zealand) (PES 1) issued by the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. PES 1 is founded on the fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behaviour.
We have also complied with the Auditor-General’s quality management requirements, which incorporate the requirements of Professional and Ethical Standard 3 Quality Management for Firms that Perform Audits or Reviews of Financial Statements, or Other Assurance or Related Services Engagements (PES 3) issued by the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. PES 3 requires our firm to design, implement and operate a system of quality management including policies or procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards, and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Other than our work in carrying out all legally required external audits and debenture trust deed assurance work, we have no relationship with or interests in the Council or any of its subsidiaries.
René van Zyl Audit New Zealand
On behalf of the Auditor-General, Auckland, New Zealand