{"id":405119,"date":"2026-04-30T14:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/405119\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T14:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:39:12","slug":"sp-warns-rates-cap-likely-to-hit-core-council-services-reducing-library-and-pool-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/405119\/","title":{"rendered":"S&P warns rates cap likely to hit core council services, reducing library and pool hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its latest report, it has warned the incoming cap could result in more councils reducing library and pool hours and doing grass mowing and reserve maintenance less often.<\/p>\n

The report said where similar rates caps were applied in Australia, they had helped encourage fiscal discipline, but infrastructure plans had become backlogged.<\/p>\n

It noted New Zealand councils were mandated to offer more than councils across the Ditch, including water services and public transport.<\/p>\n

Local Government Minister Simon Watts defended the rates cap<\/a> and said councils needed keep rates increases under control and reduce pressure on household budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is having to prioritise due to the tough economic times. Prioritisation is a good thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lydia Gliddon \u2013 the mayor of the country\u2019s fastest-growing local government area, Canterbury\u2019s Selwyn District \u2013 said her council would lose about $100 million from its long-term plan when the rates cap is applied.<\/p>\n

The mayors of Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin and Tauranga have also warned the rates cap may lead to higher fees, reduced services and less spending on infrastructure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Troy Matich is a political reporter with Newstalk ZB, working from Parliament\u2019s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2025, previously working for RNZ as a producer for Morning Report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In its latest report, it has warned the incoming cap could result in more councils reducing library and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3041,95,82578,138,4464,5770,124,5205,7558,18692,7237,3594,11551,53906,1019,296,670,120,111,139,69,5198,7676,10465,12068,10042,7420,208692,1321,7235,61,8222,8218,1339],"class_list":["post-405119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-agency","tag-and","tag-apply","tag-business","tag-cap","tag-core","tag-could","tag-council","tag-councils","tag-cutting","tag-governments","tag-hit","tag-hours","tag-incoming","tag-international","tag-into","tag-library","tag-likely","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pool","tag-rates","tag-ratings","tag-reducing","tag-rises","tag-sp","tag-sampp","tag-services","tag-struggle","tag-to","tag-warned","tag-warns","tag-without"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}