File ref: IRC-4432
13 March 2023
Sham Pancha
Via FYI website
Kia ora Sham,
Financial spending by WCC
Thank you for your request made under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings
Act 1987 (the Act), received on 14 February 2023. You requested the fol owing information:
I am really concerned about the WCC increasing rates while we are all above over our heads with
inflation and ridiculous cost of living. There was an article on stuff on 9 Feb on "Creatives a top
priority for city's new mayor". I am just stunned with our broken public transportation in the city,
crime, broken infrastructure the spending priority is for creatives.
I am concerned on what are the priorities of WCC and where do the council see costs being
reduced? Could you please explain the fol owing and the above:
•
What proportion of my rates goes to what projects?
•
How did you prioritise the projects?
•
What savings have you made to reduce my rates bil ?
•
How much do we pay WREDA each year?
•
How much do we pay the Council Control ed Organisations each year?
•
How many staff does the WCC employ, what are their titles, and what are their salary
ranges? How much does WCC spend a year on staff?
•
Why buying a $13m car park building in Newtown was important?
Wellington City Council has granted your request for information. Please see the below response:
I am real y concerned about the WCC increasing rates while we are al above over our heads
with inflation and ridiculous cost of living. There was an article on stuff on 9 Feb on "Creatives a
top priority for city's new mayor". I am just stunned with our broken public transportation in
the city, crime, broken infrastructure the spending priority is for creatives.
On 28 February, Wellington City Councillors approved the draft annual plan budget for 2023/24,
which includes a proposed 12.3% rates rise. This works out to an average of $8 per household per
week and would apply from 1 July 2023.
The budget prioritises continued investment in essential infrastructure, resilience, and climate
action. More information is available here:
Wellington City Councillors approve draft annual plan
budget
Public transport is part of the work programme of Greater Wellington Regional Council. If you have
concerns about public transport, you may wish to contact them directl
y Greater Wellington Regional
Council — Contact form (gw.govt.nz)
1. What proportion of my rates goes to what projects?
2. How did you prioritise the projects?
Information on the proportionality of rates to service is publicly available. It can be found under our
Long Term Plan (LTP):
Our 10-Year Plan - Volume two (wel ington.govt.nz) Please see page 94 of the
LTP. Further on in the LTP is detailed analysis of each activity class.
Please see the attached which was sent out with rates invoices in August 2022 which provides
details on significant projects and how rates are broken down in each area.
3. What savings have you made to reduce my rates bil?
Council faces significant cost pressures from increased inflation rates, depreciation costs,
increased cost in borrowing and rising insurance costs. To help manage these cost pressures,
Council has agreed to:
• Defer any new additional funding matters to the 2024-34 LTP for consideration
• Delay debt repayments (for covid related borrowing costs)
• Delay leaky homes rates funded provision
• Utilise some prior year accumulated surpluses to offset the rates increase
• Additional organisational savings
• Increase user fees and charges for 2023/24 in line with the Revenue and Financing Policy
to ensure those that benefit from a service pay an appropriate portion of the costs.
The draft Annual Plan was discussed at a recent Council meeting, which included the budget. The
minutes of this are available on our website below, the budget is discussed on page 13 which
includes approaches to offset cost pressures:
Minutes of Kōrau Tōtōpū | Long-term Plan, Finance, and Performance Committee - 23 February
2023 (wel ington.govt.nz)
4. How much do we pay WREDA each year?
5. How much do we pay the Council Control ed Organisations each year?
The payments are not a set amount and change each year; therefore, we have provided the most
recent figure.
CCO (Council Controled Organisation)
2022/23
Operating Grants
Basin Reserve Trust
$735,000
Experience Wellington
$8,405,000*
Karori Sanctuary Trust
$1,122,000
WellingtonNZ (WREDA)
$13,432,000
Wellington Zoo Trust
$3,752,000
*NB:
Does not include annual Experience Wel ington Rental Grant. Total = Experience Wel ington Operational Grant +
Carter Observatory Operational Grant
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Wellington Water™
Please note that this excludes depreciation and any al ocated costs, this is only the costs invoiced
by Wel ington Water Ltd for operating, maintaining, renewing, and upgrading the city's three
waters network.
Financial OPEX (Operating costs, maintenance, CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) (renewing
year
and repair)
and upgrading the city's three waters
networks)
2022/23 $35,893,310
$61,995,288
You may also find the below publicly available reports useful:
Page 80 of the annual report
Wel ington City Council Annual Report 2021/2022 - Volume 1 which
includes Economic Development Performance.
Page 59 of the annual report which outlines Council investment in control ed entities:
Wellington City Council Annual Report 2021/2022 - Volume 2
Information on the funding and performance of CCO’s is available in each of their Annual Plans.
6. How many staff does the WCC employ, what are their titles, and what are their salary
ranges? How much does WCC spend a year on staff?
Staff information and breakdown is available on page 142 of our Annual Report:
Wellington City Council Annual Report 2021/2022 - Volume 1
Our salary ranges and job descriptions are available on our website in response to a previous
request:
irc-3809-pay-bands-response.pdf (wel ington.govt.nz)
7. Why buying a $13m car park building in Newtown was important?
Wellington City Council has not recently purchased a parking building in Newtown; however, a
purchase was made for 474-unit titled carparks in an existing parking building on Tory Street. Please
see below regarding the Tory Street parking building. If you require different information, please let
us know.
The Council voted to purchase 474-unit titled carparks the Century city parking building in Tory
Street for $13 million at a meeting on Thursday 15 December 2022.
The minutes from the Council meeting are available on our website
Minutes of Te Kaunihera o
Pōneke | Council - Thursday, 15 December 2022 (wel ington.govt.nz) however, the section
regarding car parking was public excluded under section 48(1)(a). Publicly excluded minutes from
Council meetings are unable to be released without further consultation and process as this requires
permission from the Chief Executive to lift the public exclusion. Please advise if you require this and
we can advise a timeframe in providing this to you.
It is intended that the Council would operate the building as part of the Council’s wider parking
activity. This is consistent with the strategic direction of the Council’s Parking Policy and will support
Council to manage the expected changes to on-street parking because of the implementation of
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Let’s Get Wel ington Moving (LGWM) and other initiatives that wil redefine the parking landscape
across the city.
It will provide short-stay off-street parking, which will then allow for better access to the increasing
number of retail and hospitality offerings in and around Tory, Col ege, and Jessie Streets.
The car parks would initially be operated as a mix of short term and monthly leased car parks.
However, changes to that model over time are envisaged with the potential to convert a percentage
of the parks to support the Council’s wider objectives. This could potential y include dedicated EV
(Electric Vehicles) charging stations, dedicated car share parking, cycle/e-cycle charging and parking.
Please note, we may proactively release our response to your request.
Thank you again for your request, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Kind regards
Claudia Holgate
Senior Advisor, Official Information
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