The city council has adopted its draft Long Term Plan 2024-2034, which sets out what it plans to deliver over the next decade and how it will pay for it.
The council has a $16.8 billion budget over the full 10 years, with $4.9 billion to be spent over the next three years.
The proposed rates increase for the average household is 12.4 per cent, compared to the business average of 14.2 per cent and rural average of 15.4 per cent.
With the increase, the rates bill for an average-value home ($764,364) will rise by $416.23 a year or $8 a week.
The cumulative rates increase over the 10 years will be 57.8 per cent.
Mayor Phil Mauger said like most households and businesses, the council is operating under tough economic conditions.
"The councillors and I are all well aware that rates rises have a big impact on your back pocket," Mauger said.
"But there are a lot of factors, such as interest costs, insurance premiums, and inflation, that we have little ability to control.
"The council has done an amazing job over the past decade, post-quake, to help make Christchurch and Banks Peninsula the best place in New Zealand to live, work, play and invest.
"We want to keep up this momentum in the decade to come as there's still so much to do.
"We're committed to keeping rates affordable, controlling debt, delivering better services, and looking after our environment.
"Balancing all this is a constant challenge and we have a range of views on how we manage this around our council table.
There's been a lot of conversations over the past few months, as we've worked together with staff to drive that rates increase down – it was over 18 per cent when we started.
"The Draft LTP we're going out with next week is the proposal we've arrived at together – but we really do need input from across the community."
The Draft LTP includes:
A total capital investment of $6.5 billion over 10 years, with a core capital spend of $566 million in the first year, $608 million in the second year, and $664 million in the third year.
$226 million to be spent on road, footpath and cycleway renewals, including resurfacing (asphalt, chip seal and pavement reconstruction) in the first three years of the Draft LTP.
$480 million on renewing and upgrading the city's water networks (drinking water, stormwater and flood protection and wastewater) in the first three years.
$286 million from 2025 to 2027 to complete Te Kaha, Canterbury’s Multi-Use Arena. In 2024/25 this accounts for 2.17 per cent of the proposed 13.24 per cent rates increase.
$9.1 billion on the day-to-day services the council provides, such as waste collection, libraries, recreation and sport.
$2.6 billion for the capital programme and repaying $1.2 billion of existing debt, while keeping within prudent debt benchmarks.
A combination of operational cost savings and additional revenue of $41 million, including $6 million in 2024/25, without impacting on current services.
Climate mitigation and adaptation over 10 years, with $318m for projects that address climate mitigation and $1 billion for projects that help the city adapt and build resilience.
- Have your say from Monday, March 18, to Sunday, April 21, at ccc.govt.nz.
