Council Rates Horror Stories

Who Controls Your Council?

Does your council listen to you and respond to local needs?
Are your out of control rate increases driven by local community needs?
Is your council being driven by externally controlled ideologically driven projects?
Is your council's out of control spending being driven by outside forces?
Is the LGFA allowing more borrowing on agenda driven projects?
Is the LGFA driving your council spending towards ideologically agenda driven projects?

Zombie Insect infected by Fungus | Is this like your council?

New Zealand Rate Crisis:

Why Homeowners Are Losing Their Homes to Council Spending

New Zealand Rate Crisis: Why Homeowners Are Losing Their Homes to Council Spending. #rates #tax

New Zealand homeowners are facing the biggest rates increases in over 35 years, with some areas seeing rises of up to 35%. While families struggle to pay these increases, councils are experiencing massive budget overruns and increasing executive salaries.

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) and councils are having to plan a full frontal attack ratepayers – with your own money!

Quick read of article by: New Zealand Taxpayers' Union Inc. · 117 Lambton Quay, Level 4, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

LGNZ Caught Using Your Rates to Fight You!
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has been exposed planning a nationwide PR campaign using ratepayer money—to oppose a policy that would cap skyrocketing council rates.

🔍 What Happened?
A leaked memo shows LGNZ urging councils to launch a media blitz against the popular “Cap Rates Now” campaign. LGNZ staff—linked to political parties—want to protect councils’ ability to raise rates without limit.

🚨 Why This Matters

Your rates would fund a political campaign against your own interests.

LGNZ already used ratepayer money to back the controversial Three Waters reforms.

They openly admit to opposing rate caps in the past—and are trying it again.

⚖️ Is It Even Legal?
The NZ Taxpayers’ Union is seeking legal advice. Public money shouldn’t be used for political lobbying.

🗳️ What Can You Do?
Tell your local council to vote NO to LGNZ’s scheme at their AGM.
✅ Support the Cap Rates Now petition (nearing 30,000 signatures).
💬 Share this with others who care about ratepayer rights and financial accountability.

Appendix 2: Local authority debt

53: The debt figures in this table are made up of current and non-current debt, and derivative financial instruments. Derivative financial instruments (such as interest-rate swaps) are used to hedge exposure to interest-rate risk arising from financing activities. Derivative financial instruments are recognised at fair value in the balance sheet. In the body of this report, references to individual debt balances do not include derivatives if narrative in the LTP allows the debt amount to be separately derived. For example, references to debt for Auckland Council elsewhere in this report refer to the 2011/12 balance as $4.8 billion and the 2021/22 balance as $12.5 billion, which is only the external borrowing.

https://oag.parliament.nz/2012/ltps-2012-22/appendix2.htm

https://oag.parliament.nz/2012/ltps-2012-22/appendix2.htm

EMERGENCY COUNCIL MEETING....... 10 June 2025

Sharing (Dave) Baldwin for Bream Bay’s FB post …

EMERGENCY COUNCIL MEETING....... 10 June 2025

Today an emergency meeting was held to debate re-presented recommendations following last week's meeting where council were unable to reach agreement (mainly for rates increases).

Today's meeting was adjourned and senior management staff will enter urgent discussions in respect to trying to set rates for the coming financial rating year, starting July. Councillors will then return to vote on the issue.

This process is the direct result of a disastrous Annual Plan review process and documents presented to the public a few months ago. As I have said many times already, this document was so ill conceived that it should never have left the building.
Alongside this Annual Plan process lurks a bigger issue. This is our Long Term Plan. Council must attempt to align the Annual Plan with the expectations of the LTP which outlines rating rises that are so out of whack with reality that NOBODY could afford them.

This problem we must all take responsibility for, as public engagement on the LTP has inadvertently trapped us in an unsustainable loop of mismatched expenses versus available revenue.
The good news is that democracy has today begun to awaken from its slumber.
The tail (senior management) is having trouble wagging the dog (Councillors). This turnaround is exactly what needs to happen and senior management must be held to account in a better manner.
I just hope that the incoming council candidates understand and are able to comprehend the steaming pile of dung that they will inherit in October...!!!

Baldwin for Bream Bay's post 5 July 2025

Baldwin for Bream Bay's post 5 July 2025
The recent Annual Plan Review and submission process has highlighted how concerning the property rating issue has become. Continuous rates increases create major collateral damage if not kept in check.
It does not matter if you are asset rich but cash poor, renting or owner occupier, young or old, business owner or farmer, lessee or landlord.
However, what most people do not realise is that, we the people have to shoulder some of the blame for this coming to such an abrupt climax this year. Why, you might ask?
ENGAGEMENT. Or rather the lack off it.

Baldwin for Bream Bay's post 5 July 2025
It is human nature that we tend to leave things till the last minute or when we can no longer ignore an issue because it has become unbearable. We are so busy, most of us simply don’t have time. But hey, I personally think this situation has been a good thing. How much longer would we all have accepted another higher than inflation rates rise and shrugged it off with a short lived curse of “when are those pricks going to stop doing this to us?”
It certainly woke me with a startling jolt…so for that I apologise that I did not do something sooner. And the reason I am so mad is that I should have known better because I understand where this all stems from. The Long Term Plan. It was there all along in plain sight. Well most of it anyway.

Baldwin for Bream Bay's post 5 July 2025

So let me briefly unpack for you the difference between the Long Term Plan and the Annual Plan process.

Long Term Plan:

This is a 10 year plan for the district that is reviewed every 3 years. It reflects projections about everything council intends to do for the 10 years following the review date. In Whangarei the reviews that can be found online cover:

Review date: 2018 for period to: 2028

Review date: 2021 for period to: 2031

Review date: 2024 for period to: 2034 (current and operative)

We are therefore functioning at present under the last review undertaken and adopted in 2024.

Baldwin for Bream Bay's post 5 July 2025
Annual Plan:

This is a review undertaken each year to cross check how things are tracking in line with the operational Long Term Plan in place at the time. You might have heard me refer to an Annual Plan as “tinkering around the edges”. However that is a bit simplistic and would be the case if all is well. It is not, and the resulting Annual Plan review this year shows us how quickly things can change if we are not aware. We should have seen this coming……

Here is an example directly quoted from the present Long Term Plan under the heading:

‘INCREASES TO RATES’:

“In the 10 years of this plan, Council intends to increase the revenue from most rates beyond the level of inflation, as shown in the tables below.”

Next time: More of what we missed, the ‘tables’ mentioned above and the dramatic changes that occurred……….

Thank you for following me,

Dave.

Rates Horror Stories

What is the potential for WOKE councilors who act like tyrants who do not listen to residents because they know better... Where will this out of control spending lead us?

UN/WEF

So why is Whangarei Council using the language of the WEF & United Nations & World Economic Forum?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcAO4-o_4Ug

‘You will own nothing, and you will be happy’: Warnings of ‘Orwellian’ Great Reset
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oST_5nzU3NE

Build Back Better

'Build Back Better': Who said the catchphrase first?
Is the Whangarei Council being run by the United Nations?

$ 93 million ?

You have an unexplained line item of $ 93 million called Other Expenditure.'

I think you need to hold fire on this budget until you get a corrected, updated, truthful report from NIWA that has been independently verified then you can correct the budget & explain where this money is going.

SMART Cities

Have you told the residents what 'managed retreat' is going to mean to them?

Or are you going to wait until you are compulsorily purchasing their homes by the coast & force them into total surveillance smart cities?

To save the planet of course!

Once you have the correct facts & data, there will be zero budget rise, more likely a rebate.

Fake Problems

‘The problem with the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change is its mandate is only to look into human impacts on the environment it is not mandated to look into natural causes so if it found that humans are not having a catastrophic effect on the environment there would be no point in their existence...

ESG?

Then you will no longer need to plan for the criminal 2030 agenda master plan threatens everyone's freedom including yours… using the climate hoax excuse.

No need for: 17 sustainable development goals, ESG scores or smart cities & managed retreat...

Council Rates Horror Stories

New Zealand Rate Crisis:

Why Homeowners Are Losing Their Homes to Council Spending

Is your council planning a full frontal attack on you – using your RATES?

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) and councils are having to plan a full frontal attack ratepayers – with your own money!

The Future of Regional Councils

Click on the video

Appendix 2: Local authority debt

NZ Council rates are officially OUT OF CONTROL!

People cannot afford to pay ANYMORE!