Wairoa District Council is focusing on reducing costs in a bid to lessen a rates increase for the coming year.

Wairoa District Council Chief Executive Matt Lawson said staff are actively working to ensure rates remain at an affordable level.

Council’s 2024-27 Long-Term Plan (LTP) was adopted with a 9.97% forecasted rate increase for the 2026/27 year. Mr Lawson said forecasting a rates figure is required under the Long-Term Plan, but it is always challenging because a lot can change within that period, and it has.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said elected members' aim is to keep any rate increase as low as prudently possible, and already some of the changes that have been made indicate there are areas where we might save money without impacting the required levels of service. There will be a real commitment to reduce costs while still delivering the standards of levels of service required.

“Council worked hard to get the rates increase for the past year (2025/26) down to 5%, compared to the 15% forecast in the LTP. We are under no illusions that doing this two years in a row will be a challenge.

“Our Council is very aware of the Government’s directive for Councils to stick to their core services and keep rate increases as low as possible. In line with that, we will continue to work on identifying cost savings over the next couple of months.”

20 February 2026

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