Rodney rates row referred to Ombudsman

A formal complaint has been lodged with the Ombudsman alleging Auckland Council withheld key valuation data for Rodney during consultation on its 2025/26 Annual Plan.

A claim that has been denied by Council.

The complaint was filed by Rodney Local Board deputy chair Ivan Wagstaff, who said in his letter on December 12 that council consulted on a general rates increase of 5.8% (based on an average residential property) in February 2025 and rural ratepayers were asked to submit on this average.

“We have challenged council’s Annual Plan consultation process,” Wagstaff said on Rodney Rates Action Group (RRAG) Facebook page. “Evidence shows council withheld data revealing an approximate 13% valuation divergence (urban -9% vs rural +4%) while citing only ‘average’ increases.”

He said that a lawful consultation required a full disclosure of material facts by council and that council knowingly withheld data confirming the actual increase for their property class would be substantially higher.

In his letter to the Ombudsman, Wagstaff alleges misleading conduct and administrative impropriety by Council.

“Council has justified a significant rates increase for rural ratepayers by claiming relevant valuation data could not be released during consultation because it was ‘preliminary’ and ‘uncertified’. This defence is factually incorrect regarding the Rodney ward.”

Wagstaff said that the Rodney valuation figures were already settled before consultation began.

“The valuation data for the Rodney Ward was effectively signed off in December 2024, and did not change.

“Therefore, at the time of consultation (February to March last year), Council possessed data for this specific ward that was stable, known and materially different from the ‘average’ presented to the public.”

In the letter, Wagstaff said withholding that information breached the Local Government Act (LGA) 2002.

“Rural ratepayers were asked to submit on a 5.8% average (rates) increase while the council knowingly held static data confirming the actual increase for their property class would be substantially higher.”

He added that Council’s claim that sharing the data would have been ‘speculation’ was disingenuous.

Subsequent to the December 12 letter, Wagstaff filed an urgent supplementary memorandum with the Ombudsman on January 29.

He said Council was about to start the consultation process for the next budget [2026/27 Annual Plan], proposing new rates increases.

“But these new increases will be calculated on top of the 2025/26 ‘base rates’ – figures that I believe were established through a misleading and legally defective process.

“If we let them proceed without challenge, they are effectively ‘compounding the error’. They are baking the disputed costs from last year permanently into our rates bill, and then adding a new increase on top.

“We cannot be expected to submit on ‘increases upon increases’ while the legitimacy of the first increase is still under investigation.”

Council group chief financial officer Ross Tucker said council had provided a substantive response to Wagstaff, confirming Council’s Annual Plan 2025/26 consultation process, and its subsequent setting of rates, was lawful and reasonable.

“We understand the concern and perspective raised by ratepayers who received higher than expected rates increases,” he said. “This resulted from rating valuations and property values in Rodney holding up better than the region-wide average, which is how rating valuations work.

“Total rates are shared across all Auckland properties based on their rating valuations. Therefore, we required all 630,000 rating valuations to be approved by the Valuer-General to calculate rates across all of Auckland.

“Our 2025/26 Annual Plan consultation process was not able to forecast rates at individual level, due to the property rating valuations not being certified until June 6, 2025.

“To have offered uncertified information to some individual Auckland communities, while not having it for others, could have undermined the rating valuation process and been potentially inaccurate and unfair.

“Instead, we were very clear that the 5.8% increase was an average across the region and that our three-yearly legislated rating valuation meant the rates increases for individual properties would depend on how the value of each property moved in relation to the overall movement in value for properties.

“In areas like Rodney and Franklin, where property values held up better than average (Rodney had 0% change as at May 1, 2024), the rates increase was more than the average 5.8% rates increase. Across Auckland, property values reduced by -9% on average.”

Council will consult on its Annual Plan 2026/27 from February 27 and rates will be based on the certified three-yearly rating valuations that took effect last year.