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Kaipara District Council has confirmed it will continue to use land value as the basis for general rates calculations for the 2025/26 year.
Late last year, council asked the community for feedback on a potential move to base its general rates on capital value (CV) rather than land value (LV).
Council received 177 submissions, with 19 submitters heard by elected members in a session held in Dargaville last month.
Kaipara is one of the few district councils still using land value to calculate the general rate.
Land value is the value of bare land, while capital value includes the land value plus any improvements made to the land such as buildings.
During discussions on the Revenue and Financing Policy last week, Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson noted the complexity of rates and finding the fairest way to charge them.
“Based on the feedback, we have agreed to reject what we had proposed and stay with land value for the next year,” he said. “This will give council time to drill down further and take another look at how best to use capital value for calculating the general rate. Part of that will involve coming back to the community to see if we are making the right call.”
Another proposed change was to equalise the capital costs of stormwater across the district.
Elected members agreed that no changes would be made to the way the stormwater rate was currently distributed. Operating costs for the networks would continue to be split evenly (equalised) among those paying the stormwater targeted rate, with capital costs payable by those on each network. Ten per cent of stormwater activity would continue to be funded through general rates.
