Councils are responsible for providing a number of services that are essential to keeping everyone healthy and safe.
Each year, the Wellington City Council sets its overall budget as part of the Annual or Long-term Plan process. The rates-funded component of that budget is then collected from property owners.
Council rates keep our city functioning. The money collected is used to deliver approximately 400 services and pay for what has been borrowed to fund major infrastructure projects.
Services include ensuring households have safe drinking water, that the wastewater system keeps operating, rubbish is collected, burials and cemeteries can take place, and essential roading and safety repairs are made.
Key infrastructure includes:
- 2,757km of pipes across our three waters network
- 105 water pump stations
- 2 wastewater treatment plants (Moa Point and Karori)
- 904km of footpaths
- 19,000 streetlights
- 275 social housing buildings
- 700km of roads, which include bike lanes, bus lanes, bridges and tunnels
- 4,305ha of parks, reserves, beaches, including walking/biking tracks
- The Southern Landfill, Capital Compost, the Tip Shop and Recycle Centre
- 55 sports fields
- 108 playgrounds
- 277 community facilities
Long-term plan
The 2024–34 Long-term Plan, which came into force on 1 July, includes:
- $4.9 billion of capital expenditure which will be spent on improving Pōneke over the next 10 years
- $11.6 billion operating expenditure to run our services over the next 10 years.
Other key investments and work in the Long-term Plan includes:
- A record $4.8 billion set aside for three waters including $1.85 billion of funding to Wellington Water Ltd which covers upgrades, renewals, services and repairs;
- New waste collection services from 2027 including a rates-funded rubbish wheelie bin that will be collected fortnightly, a rates-funded weekly organics service and a bigger 240L fortnightly recycling bin;
- A new Perpetual Investment Fund created using proceeds from the sale of the Council’s minority shares in Wellington Airport Limited;
- $42.1 million spent on upgrading and renewing the city’s Coastal, Town Belt and Reserves infrastructure;
- $106 million of funding for recreation facilities and services;
- $325.3 million on operational costs for social housing;
- $592.9 million on renewing and upgrading social housing units;
- $104.4 million for the completion of the Te Matapihi Central Library;
- $1.1 billion for the transport network, including $115.2 million on sustainable street changes;
- $500,000 extra each year on social grants for safety initiatives in the CBD.
See more information on the Budget and the investments as outlined in the 2024–34 Long-term Plan.
Download our summary of your rates explained (1.37MB PDF)
Sludge levy
A new levy has also been added to rates bills as a separate line item.
The levy is to cover the approximately $400 million required to pay for the construction of Te Whare Wai Para Nuku, the Moa Point sludge minimisation facility.
Te Whare Wai Para Nuku is a critical piece of infrastructure for the city. The facility is world-class, and the first of its kind in Aotearoa.
This facility will reduce the volume of treated sludge, a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process, by up to 80 percent. It will also reduce emissions generated through the treatment process by up to 60 percent.
It will remove the need to pipe more than a million litres of sludge across the city and bury 40–50 tonnes of it in the landfill each day.
Find out more about the sludge minimisation facility levy.