There would be community meetings about the three options and other engagement during the consultation, a statement from the Waitaki District Council yesterday said.
However, there would be no formal hearings following the consultation.
Earlier this month, councillors voted to consult on a 19% proposed rates rise.
In a draft annual plan consultation document prepared for yesterday’s council meeting, the 19% proposed increase was described as the council’s "preferred" and "minimum" option.
But "preferred" was subsequently removed from the document as preferred options are required in long-term plans but not in annual plans.
Yesterday’s council statement said that as part of consultation, the community would be asked which option they supported for Waitaki’s financial sustainability.
A 19% rise would reduce the council’s $14 million deficit somewhat while 27% would account for inflationary pressures such as fuel prices, and 45% would balance the books.
The 19% option recognised cost-of-living struggles people were facing but did not fix the council’s financial issues and was "not sustainable", a report from council staff said.
"The gap between income and expenditure has continued to grow each year and council has constantly made operating deficits.
"Therefore, council is also consulting on a further 8% increase in rates income, which would bring the total rates rise to 27%.
"Finally, in an ideal world council would like to balance the budget and fund the $9m of currently unfunded Three Waters depreciation."
That would bring the rates rise to 45%, the report said.
The two-week consultation, which asks for written submissions, will feed into council deliberations ahead of it adopting an annual plan on June 23.
Councillors agreed by a majority that no formal hearings would be held at the end of the consultation period, although Crs John McCone and Jim Hopkins voted against.
Cr McCone described the process as "pretty rushed" and Cr Hopkins said not having hearings "might be seen by some in the community as shirking our responsibility to transparently and properly engage".
Cr Frans Schlack said councillors were "not shirking" their responsibilities. It was important to be at the consultation sessions.
Council chief executive Alex Parmley said the "room for manoeuvre" within the annual plan process was "limited".
The council had agreed to have an unbalanced budget in all but one year in the past seven years, leading to "unintended consequences".
Now, it was playing "catch-up" with ageing assets due to historic underinvestment in infrastructure and dealing with "so-called unfunded mandates" from the government, he said.
Community meetings are planned for Otematata, Oamaru and Palmerston starting this weekend.
