{"id":452258,"date":"2026-05-30T05:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452258\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T05:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:50:12","slug":"bay-of-plenty-regional-council-agrees-lower-rates-rise-new-20m-fund-bus-fare-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452258\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay of Plenty Regional Council agrees lower rates rise, new $20m fund, bus fare increase"},"content":{"rendered":"

The council approved $1 million for regional reorganisation planning and $170,000 towards the recently signed Western Bay of Plenty city and regional deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The funding comes as Bay of Plenty councils consider amalgamation options<\/a> in response to wider local government reforms. <\/p>\n

In Rotorua, $620,000 in ongoing costs linked to the purchase of Kerer\u016b Farms will be funded from the council\u2019s reserves. <\/p>\n

The 266-hectare dairy farm is being transitioned to lower-nitrogen land use as part of efforts to improve Rotorua lake water quality, the media release said. <\/p>\n

\" Bay of Plenty Regional Council chairwoman Matemoana McDonald and chief executive Fiona McTavish with the consultation document for the Annual Plan 2026\/27 and Long Term Plan Amendment. <\/p>\n

Councillors also approved $250,000 to develop a Rotorua Lakes biosecurity \u201cproof of concept\u201d system aimed at reducing the risk of invasive freshwater pests, including freshwater gold clam.<\/p>\n

Public transport changes included ending the Baybus OnDemand trial<\/a> service in Tauranga South in December. The trial started in March 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The council said it had strong patronage and customer satisfaction<\/a> compared to previous fixed route services, but needed a significant ongoing subsidy.<\/p>\n

Further work was planned on future public transport options for Tauranga South.<\/p>\n

Urban public transport fares across the region will increase by 3.1% from July, with fares rounded to the nearest 10 cents. The council said the increase reflected rising operating costs and reduced external funding.<\/p>\n

That would add 10c to standard adult fares, with a Bee card.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Baybus OnDemand trial in Tauranga South will end. Photo \/ Bay of Plenty Regional Council<\/p>\n

Councillors approved $150,000 for an iwi-led Tauranga Moana Strategy and agreed to investigate options for a technical hub intended to provide specialist support to iwi and hap\u016b.<\/p>\n

No additional biodiversity funding was approved for 2026\/27, with existing investment levels to remain in place while the council develops a regional indigenous biodiversity strategy ahead of the next long-term plan.<\/p>\n

A new Regional Benefit Fund of up to $20m was approved. The fund is intended to support large-scale projects delivering environmental, economic, social and cultural benefits across the region. <\/p>\n

The council said the fund would be financed through reserves and investment returns rather than rates. <\/p>\n

Regional council chairwoman Matemoana McDonald said in the media release councillors had sought to balance affordability with maintaining core regional services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know many people across our region are doing it tough, and that has been front of mind throughout this process,\u201d McDonald said.<\/p>\n

She said councillors had made \u201cdifficult trade-offs\u201d by deferring or reducing some non-essential spending, while continuing work on environmental protection, regional resilience and long-term planning.<\/p>\n

On the Baybus OnDemand decision, McDonald said councillors recognised the service had been well used but needed to consider the cost to ratepayers and the wider public transport network.<\/p>\n

The annual plan will be formally adopted on June 25 and will take effect from July 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The council approved $1 million for regional reorganisation planning and $170,000 towards the recently signed Western Bay of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1126,125510,18479,1443,74,12466,4765,2177,1561,30482,5205,16639,3602,1872,39490,7469,71,295,5345,2513,117,111,43,139,69,1118,428,2170,1562,25718,7676,1336,5914,1436,1961,686],"class_list":["post-452258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-1126","tag-125510","tag-20m","tag-about","tag-after","tag-agrees","tag-annual","tag-average","tag-bay","tag-bus","tag-council","tag-decisions","tag-earlier","tag-face","tag-fare","tag-forecasts","tag-from","tag-fund","tag-increase","tag-lower","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-overall","tag-plan","tag-plenty","tag-ratepayers","tag-rates","tag-reduced","tag-regional","tag-rise","tag-this","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452258","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=452258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}