The council had set out to deliver a nil rates rise and had delivered that in its annual plan for the 2026-27 year after setting the figures in February.
Council deputy chairman Kevin Malcolm said staff had found efficiencies and savings to achieve a nil rates rise.
He said $1.26 million from reserves would fund a slight deficit.
Cr Michael Laws said there must have been cost increases faced by the council due to the rise in fuel prices and inflation.
‘‘There must had been an impact on council infrastructure, particularly those driving fossil fuel vehicles which we possess.
‘‘And we have an indication of 2% inflationary rate in the plan which seems heroic to me. Every commentator, bank economist is nowhere near that,’’ Cr Laws said.
Council finance manager Nick Donnelly said the numbers were set well before Christmas last year and had not been revised.
‘‘Things have changed since then. But when we looked at it, inflation was just above 2% but was trending down.
‘‘What it will mean if costs continue to be higher? We are going to have to manage our spend and look at those things around the fringes.’’
The reason the plan was not changed was not because staff thought councillors would not want to see a whole lot of new numbers.
The council did not spend a large amount of money on vehicle fuel.
‘‘The bigger impact on fuel will be contractors, in particular on infrastructure, engineering and public transport.’’
But there was not enough certainty to revise those numbers.
Cr Laws said council spending would need trimming because of outside forces.
He said the plan was inaccurate and out of date.
Council chief executive Richard Saunders said decisions might have to come back to the council table.
He said every year there were changes as prices went up and down and were managed month to month.
‘‘This was a plan made at a point of time where we had information available to us. But we are comfortable with the plan we are presenting.’’
Mr Saunders said the NZ Transport Agency, on behalf of central government, wanted information of the impact of rising fuel prices on public transport operators.
Cr Gary Kelliher acknowledged much work had been done to get to the nil rise but he still had concerns.
‘‘We have a deficit when we should be balancing budgets. Are we resetting government and the wants of the ratepayers ... they want better spend for their money, better efficiency for council. Does that annual plan lead us to that? I don’t think so,’’ he said.
He said it had to be a meaningful zero rates rise.
‘‘It is crazy that we are sitting in a new building which is a cost to ratepayers.
‘‘Please be clear — I will be looking for a lot more efficiency for ratepayers.’’
Cr Kate Wilson said she was concerned with the funding of the plan with a deficit.
‘‘But I appreciate it is almost impossible with the current climate and the price of fuel.’’
She said it had to be highlighted central government wanted rates caps yet local government was faced with rising costs such as that brought about by the fuel price increases.
Cr Matt Hollyer had wanted to introduce a late item to increase the wilding pines rate on every property, from $2.46 a property to $6 a property. But it was ruled too late in the process.
Cr Laws was the only councillor to vote against the plan.
