Rates Information
What are my rates paying for?
Western Bay of Plenty District stretches from Waihī Beach in the north to Otamarakau in the south and covers 195,000 hectares of coastal, rural and urban areas. Maintaining and providing essential services from one end of the District to the other isn't cheap.
Council maintains more than 1073km of local road, and 189km of footpath. We have 222 parks and reserves that cater for more than 1000 games every year. We have four libraries that offer more than 112,026 items for borrowing.
We provide nearly 40 services, from animal control and recycling centres, to safe water, playgrounds and pensioner housing.
Council adopted its rates for the 2023-24 year on 30 August 2023.
What do they all mean?
Environmental protection - Includes environmental education programmes and initiatives, support and a small amount of funding for community-based environmental projects, and fencing subsidies.
Economic development - This focuses on promoting the standard of living and economic health of a specific area.
Supporting our communities - This is about growing sustainable and resilient communities. We provide places to learn, meet and socialise such as community halls, parks and libraries, and encourage communities to be prepared through various civil defence measures.
Representation - This includes the leadership and direction provided to the organisation and wider community by the Mayor, Councillors and community boards. It also includes the advisory role provided by Tangata Whenua, and democracy services internally.
Recycling centres and landfill - This provides for three recycling and waste centres, a greenwaste drop off centre, education programmes, ongoing maintenance of two closed landfills, and the monitoring of illegal dumping across the District.
Planning for the future - Making sure our District is vibrant, safe, prosperous, and environmentally friendly is important. This includes policy and planning, resource management, and planning for infrastructure, e.g. projects such as SmartGrowth and Special Housing Areas.
Regulatory services - Includes activities such as animal control, resource consents, building consents, and community protection.
Stormwater - Stormwater systems are built to protect buildings and property from the effects of flooding and coastal erosion. Our systems include primary and secondary 'overland flow paths', stormwater detention, and stormwater treatment.
Libraries - Our four libraries (Te Puke, Katikati, Ōmokoroa, Waihī Beach) are so much more than just books! They're also a community hub - promoting technology, learning, creativity and inclusiveness.
Water supply - We supply safe drinking water to about 41,000 people through the water infrastructure we have operating in the District.
Recreation - We have 222 reserves across the District, including numerous parks that cater for active sporting codes. In addition to this, the many walking and cycling trails and connections provide outdoor recreation opportunities for all.
Wastewater - Lessening the impact of human activity on the natural environment, through solid waste strategies and initiatives. This includes the safe disposal of sewerage.
Roading rate - Encompasses all roading costs, including general maintenance and repairs, key roading projects, seal extensions, town centre upgrades, footpaths, cycleways, parking areas, and more.
Corporate services - A number of internal corporate services support the delivery of services and activities to the community, including customer services, communications, IT, quality and risk management, and finance.
Rates instalments and due dates
The first instalment of your rates invoice for the year 2023-24 were sent out in September 2023.
Penalty and instalment dates have now been set for the 2023-24 rating year, for more information see the Schedule of Fees & Charges 2023-24.
