The council has come up with a draft rise of 6% which will take effect when the next financial year starts in July.
But more savings will need to be found if a lower rates rise is to happen – and Mayor Lydia Gliddon has hinted staff cuts could be a possibility.
Staff costs amounted to $47.3 million last financial year.
Selwyn Times understands staff costs were discussed by councillors in a behind closed doors publicly excluded meeting last week.
Gliddon said “sensitive” matters relating to the council budget which will determine the rates rise were discussed.
A figure will be determined for a six week public consultation starting March 16 before the final rates rise is decided.
Gliddon said the public excluded discussion was about the “internals” of the council.
“At this current stage, we are still working on some things that have a lot of sensitivity around them,” she said.
Asked if it related to staffing levels, Gliddon told Selwyn Times said “you can read between the lines”.
“I hope in a few weeks I can tell you a little bit more.”
Over the past three financial years, the council has increased staff numbers from 586 to 665, and the number of full-time employees from 309 to 379.
Staffing levels were a focus of new councillor Aaron McGlinchy during his election campaign.
In June last year McGlinchy said: “Management and councillors need to be asking why this jump, and do we have the right number and mix of staff to be operating efficiently.”
Since being elected, he has been made the council finance and performance committee chair.
McGlinchy told Selwyn Times it was premature to discuss specifics at the moment.
“Some of the things being talked about there could have effects on staff, so that’s a sensitive issue, but the council is not going in there blindly slashing away at staff, but we are aware that it is a major cost,” he said.
2024/25 financial year costs
- 14 staff paid more than $201,000
- 157 staff paid between $101,000-$200,000
- 211 staff paid between $60,001-$100,000
- 283 staff paid less than $60,000
- Total amount spent on wages: $47.3 million
2022/23 financial year
- 5 staff paid more than $201,000
- 89 staff paid between $101,000-$200,000
- 187 staff paid between $60,001-$100,000
- 305 staff paid less than $60,000
- Total amount spent on wages: $32.7 million
More work needed to meet rates rise election pledge
More savings need to be found if Mayor Lydia Gliddon is to fully deliver on her election promise of a single-digit rates rise.
The council has set a 6% rates increase as its starting point for the coming year. While that figure is technically within single digits, once Selwyn Water Ltd connection fees for water and wastewater are included, the increase rises to an effective 10.6% for the average-priced urban household, valued at $847,000.
“I committed to keeping rates increases in single digits, and we have reduced the council rates increase to a draft 6%, down from a projected 13.3% in the Long Term Plan, with work still to be done,” Gliddon said.
“We have got to start somewhere... people want to see where we are at.”
To reach the 6% draft increase, the council has identified $9.2 million in savings and has started shifting more services towards a user-pays model.
The overall picture is expected to become clearer in the coming weeks, with Selwyn Water close to confirming its connection and usage charges.
Said Gliddon: “Until we get to see those numbers, everything is so very hypothetical.”
Gliddon said the council is “cognisant” the household impact is both rates and water bills put together.
“It would be premature to confirm a combined household percentage until the (Selwyn Water) validation process is complete. I know the community wants these numbers, and so do we.”
The 6% draft rate rise is expected to change before the Annual Plan, which sets out the council’s budget for the 2026/27 financial year, goes out for a six-week public consultation from March 16.
Reaction to the 6-7% draft increase on community social media pages has been mixed, with some wanting more reduction and others supportive of the progress made so far.
Councillors agreed at a meeting last week that more work was required.
Finance and performance committee chair Aaron McGlinchy said he wanted to see further savings, but described the process as a reality check when it came to understanding what could, and could not, be cut without triggering a special consultative procedure (SCP).
“It is probably better we focus on the stuff where we can quickly make some savings and work through the stages to get to a better number the community is happy with (in the Long Term Plan).”
A major challenge with an SCP, along with the cost of $300,000 to $500,000, is the tight timeframe the council has to strike its new rates by June 30.
As it is, the council already has limited flexibility to complete the Annual Plan process because of the six-week consultation instead of the standard four-week process.
Gliddon said the council is already pushing the limits of what can be changed this year, with a more substantial reset planned for the 2027-37 Long Term Plan.
“The Annual Plan is a step change, and the Long Term Plan is the big reset,” she said.
The council is also looking to hit pause on projects like the $16m Leeston Library and Community Centre called Whata Rau, and the planned district park in Rolleston.
“We are not going to throw them out, but I think we just need to be a little bit smarter with what we’ve got,” Gliddon said.
She said pausing Whata Rau could delay construction, currently scheduled to begin towards the end of the year, but stressed any decision would be guided by community feedback.
A common question from residents is why rates increases cannot be kept within the current inflation rate of 3.1%.
Gliddon said the consumer price index, used to measure inflation and track items such as groceries, does not reflect the true cost increases faced by councils when building infrastructure.
She said infrastructure inflation is about two-and-a-half times higher than the household rate.
