Big week around the council table

Queenstown's council has confirmed a 13.5% average rates rise for the coming year, detailed plans to accommodate freedom campers, and pushed its river wastewater discharge case towards the Environment Court.

Several councillors vented their frustrations with the rates rise, as the annual plan which sets out spending was approved at the full council meeting last Thursday afternoon.

Councillor Niki Gladding says the consistent rates increases "are just unaffordable for many people in the community".

"My concern is ... we didn't do a line-by-line analysis of operational expenses," she says. We continue to not have that information in front of us. We don't go into that level of detail and those operational expense have such an impact on rates.

"Some of them we can't help, some of them we can."

Gladding criticised both councillors and staff for the poor process, saying there needs to be more time for councillors and the community to dig into those operational budgets, as well as capital expenditure.

Cr Lyal Cocks agreed, although says they'd need to be significant changes to have a big impact on rates.

"None of us like to sign off on this but we knew this was coming ... we had it in the LTP (Long Term Plan)," he says. We've got to look at doing things differently ... we can't carry on having 13.5% increases burdened on our rate payers."

Cr Esther Whitehead says the rates rise, although expected, was "still really uncomfortable" but thanked staff for the focus on user fees, which created more equity.

"I think we've acted probably more prudently this time around than in any previous years, so I appreciate that."

Queenstown Lakes mayor Glyn Lewers thanked staff and highlighted "external cost pressures" in the past six months, mainly NZTA co-funding being reduced.

"We've absorbed all those costs and still kept the target that we wanted to meet under the LTP," Lewers says.

He disagreed with Cr Gladding over the operational costs, saying 25% of the rates were down to depreciation, to maintain the assets council already has, while 10% was to cover interest payments.

"85% of our opex [operational expenditure] is on core services: building consents, resource planning, transport, waste water, water supply, storm water, and waste management.

"This idea that we're frivolous with spending is completely and utterly erroneous."

Lewers says the 85% leaves very little for libraries, local democracy and social service out into the community.

"It's a very tight rope we're walking here and I appreciate the work the financial team have done to get the books in order, to create a way forward for maintaining the infrastructure."

Meanwhile, councillors also approved the draft Freedom Camping Bylaw, which now goes out to public consultation.

The plan will see 158 carparks across 14 sites set aside for certified self-contained vehicles to use free of charge. That includes 52 in six sites in Queenstown, 28 in three sites in Wānaka, 50 in Kingston, 15 in Hāwea, and the rest in smaller sites in Arrowtown, Lake Hayes and Gibbston.

And QLDC has also applied to the Otago Regional Council to have its controversial retrospective resource consent application to discharge treated wastewater to Shotover River be directly referred to the Environment Court.

Annual plan

QLDC's annual plan was approved without the usual public consultation, as it differed very little from the ten-year Long Term Plan, adopted by the council in September.

There was some "informal community engagement" and a formal consultation on the user fees, which attracted 63 submissions.

User fees include building and resource consent processing, dog registration, recreation facilities, parking, and access to Wānaka Airport.

With increases, they're expected to contribute $2.4 million in revenue, directly offsetting what would have been an average 1.6% increase in rates.

Most fees have been increased 2.6% in line with inflation, while Sport and Recreation, Planning and Development, Queenstown car parking, dog registration, and Wānaka Airport, have more specific case-by-case raises.

The full Annual Plan 2025-2026 including the Schedule of User Fees and Charges are available on the council website.