SWITCHING THE RATES FROM BUSINESS TO RESIDENTS/ ELECTION WARNING WELLINGTON

AMENDMENT TO WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL'S
LONG TERM COUNCIL COMMUNITY PLAN 2006/07 15/16
SECTION THREE
AMENDMENT TO THE REVENUE AND FINANCING POLICY
Rates Differential
In 2000 the Council voted to alter the rates differential (the rates split) that decides the share of general rates paid by residents and businesses. The LTCCP proposed that over a 10 year period the balance will shift from a point where the commercial sector contributed 7.0 times more general rate (for a property of the same value) to a stage where they will end up contributing 2.8 times more general rate than the residential ratepayer by 2009/10.

The council believes it is appropriate to spread the impact of activity funding changes and that a smooth transition towards the 2.8:1 ratio continues, while also taking into account the annual impact of the differential shift on individual ratepayers.

To achieve this the Council has amended the differential transition by restating the 2007/08 general rate differential from 3.8:1 as originally proposed in the LTCCP to 4.2:1 and pushed out the timeline over which the 2.8:1 differential target will be achieved from 2009/10 to 2011/12 as follows:

2007/08- 2008/09- 2009/10 -2010/11- 2011/12
4.20:1 - - -3.80:1 -- -3.45:1 -- -3.10:1 -- 2.80:1