It comes after the majority of submitters on the draft Annual Plan wanted a rates rise of 4.9% or lower after the council initially proposed a 5.4% increase.
However, for most households, the reality will still be closer to an 8% increase once wastewater and drinking water charges are added.
That compares with the 13.3% increase forecast by the previous council in 2024.
Selwyn Times calculations show that applying a 4.5% increase to a home valued at $847,000 would result in a rates bill of about $3651 – an increase of about $157 on the 2025/26 financial year.
When estimated drinking water and wastewater charges – now under the control of Selwyn Water Ltd – are added, the total bill rises to about $5101, compared to the $5341 forecast in 2024.
Council commercial and corporate services executive director Allison Sneddon said staff were confident they could reduce the increase to about 4.5%, although final modelling still needed to be completed.
“I’m saying ‘ish’ because we need to fully model it,” she said.
The modelling is expected to be completed ahead of a June 10 council meeting, where the final savings package will also be confirmed.
To get the rates rise down to 4.9%, the council needed to find about $10.5 million in savings.
A significant portion of the savings is coming from shifting to a greater user-pays model, ensuring services such as building consent processing are no longer subsidised by rates.
The 25% increase in building consent fees is expected to save the council about $2.5m.
The council will also look to recover 75% of the cost of its strategic relationship manager service – designed to help developers through council processes – resulting in a further $300,000 saving.
Dog registration fees have risen by $8 to $68, with the council conscious of not setting fees so high that owners choose not to register their dogs.
The new fees were adopted by the council on Wednesday. Under the Dog Control Act 1996 it has to give a public notice a month before the start of the registration year on July 1.
The increase is expected to save the council about $100,000.
Dog registration fees will be reviewed again as part of the next 2027-37 Long Term Plan, including the possibility of introducing separate pricing categories for working dogs.
The council has also reduced funding for its economic development strategy by $650,000, leaving a budget of $250,000.
Work on other council strategies – youth, ageing well and bicultural initiatives – will also be scaled back, saving $422,000.
Another $400,000 has been removed from the council’s $86 million capital works programme by delaying some projects by a year to ensure delivery remains achievable.
Event funding has been cut by $107,000, while reductions to library programmes will save a further $200,000.
Mayor Lydia Gliddon said the council heard “very strongly” from the community through the 944 submissions received – a record for an annual plan consultation.
“We really value the time people took to consider our suggestions for how to manage growth, community needs, and keeping rates manageable.
“I’m pleased to see how involved our community is,” she said.
“This is really positive and goes to all the hard work that’s gone on behind the scenes to continue to find savings and put them on the table.”
Councillors acknowledged water charges still needed to be factored into the overall cost increases facing households.
Said councillor Tracey Macleod: “I’m pleased it has gone down because it will help to offset some of the feeling about the Selwyn Water Ltd number, and by us getting ours lower means that combined number is lower and that’s a good thing.”
Councillor Denise Carrick said she wanted to see the rates increase reduced to 4%, but also opposed smaller fee increases, such as fitness class charges rising by 30c to 60c, which are expected to generate an extra $10,000 in revenue.
Councillor Sophie McInnes said it was difficult to judge how successful the economic development strategy had been after only one year.
“We haven’t had a single review yet to see if the strategy is working over a year, and we are going to cut the budget without knowing that because we do have a direction from residents to cut money,” she said.
Community grant funding was also reduced by $261,040.
Despite the cuts, councillors agreed to budget $5000 for CCTV cameras at the Darfield Recreation Centre, something the Malvern Community Patrol has requested for about four years.
A decision on Upper Selwyn Huts’ licence fee, and a proposed switch from communal rubbish bins to individual wheelie bins for properties, has been deferred pending further information at the June 10 meeting.
Councillors also requested more information on whether council facilities should close on public holidays and whether they should become cashless.
As of Monday, 48 submissions had been received on Selwyn Water’s Water Services Delivery Strategy.
All submissions will be reviewed before the strategy is finalised, with Selwyn Water to report back on what it heard and how feedback influenced the final document, which will be considered by the Selwyn Water Board in June.
- Selwyn Water’s plan is open for public consultation until Monday. To make a submission, head to selwynwater.co.nz
