Rural ratepayers on the northern outskirts of the Super City were misled about the real-world impact of steep rate increases this year, says a local politician. 

Rodney Local Board member Ivan Wagstaff said council officers were aware of significant rate rises in October 2024 but withheld the information during public consultation on the budget. 

However, Auckland Council says there was wide consultation on the rate increases, at a time when only part of the valuation picture - which impacts annual rates - was available. 

Rate increases exceeding 20% in the rural north and south of the city - sharply contrasting with the council’s 5.8% average residential rise - have sparked widespread concern. 

One ratepayer, Trevor Knox, told the Herald last month the rates on his rural property at Ōrewa rose 73% after the 1ha lifestyle block was rezoned for housing that cannot be developed for several years due to wastewater capacity constraints. 

Trevor Knox and his family have seen their rural rates increase by 73% to an urban rate of more than $10,000 but cannot sell their land for new housing because the land cannot be connected to wastewater until 2031. Photo / Dean Purcell 

The latest development, said Wagstaff, came from an Official Information Act response from the Valuer-General, Neill Sullivan, showing he had validated the rates data for rural ratepayers in Rodney in October 2024. 

Wagstaff said this showed that the council presented rural Rodney ratepayers with a low average rates increase of 5.8%, knowing the figure was misleading and depriving ratepayers of a fair and accurate picture. 

Sullivan also said that “certification of the revaluation was based on the whole of the Auckland Council area meeting the required standard rather than on an individual legacy council basis, and this was finally achieved in June 2025”. 

The council’s lack of transparency reduced a vital democratic process to a procedural formality, Wagstaff claimed. 

What was taken from ratepayers was not just information, but their voice, and their ability to participate meaningfully in the governance of their city, he said. 

Auckland Council chief finance officer Ross Tucker said the budget was consulted on across the region. 

He said only part of the valuation picture was available in October, and without all 630,000 rating valuations approved by the Valuer-General, the council was unable to forecast rates at an individual level. 

Federated Farmers Auckland president Alan Cole. 

“To set rates and have a clear region-wide view, we required the complete information on June 6, when the rating valuation was certified by the Valuer-General. No values were certified ahead of that date. 

“However, in the interim period, we did stress that rates for individual properties would depend on the outcome of the rating valuation,” Tucker said. 

Federated Farmers Auckland president Alan Cole told the Herald last month that since the formation of the Super City, the property revaluation process had generally favoured rural and rural residential areas. 

Their property values had tended to increase less than those in urban areas, resulting in lower-than-average rate hikes. 

However, last year’s revaluation exercise reversed that trend, and the impact was reflected in this year’s rates bills, he said.