Vote for a strong team to ensure change

The challenges our communities face are daunting, a mandate from the people of Kāpiti is needed for real change. Vote for us so we can implement the crucial improvements needed in the place we love and call home. We have the plan, we need your support.

AFFORDABLE RATES

What’s happening currently?

1. Rates are rising steeply: Rates will increase by 115% in 10 years. A 17% rise this year and 7% next year are just the beginning.
2. KCDC’s core costs are spiralling: Council spending on staff increased by 35% between 2022 and 2024, and grants by 150% over the same two years.
3. Non-core activities prioritised: Council funds non-essential activities, ignoring spending discipline.
4. KCDC’s debt/loane repayment is being prioritised even though Kāpiti doesn’t face a debt crisis.
5. Higher living costs are creating hardship:
   • Average rates per household may rise from $4,250 (2024) to $9,150 in 10 years
   • Rent may increase by $95/week, solely because of rates within the same period
   • For solo NZ Super recipients, rates hikes may consume more than half their additional NZ Super payments over the next 10 years
6. Council favours pet projects over ratepayer affordability. Council’s policy choices for rate increases are deliberate. The Council used to set rates to be no more than 5% of median income. But this year they increased that to 7% of median income.

Our five-point plan for affordable rates

1. Halt unaffordable increases: Freeze planned rises and design a sustainable rates path by July 2026.
2. Commit to affordability: Average rates will increase no more than 3% per annum, on average, over the period of the current Long Term Plan and will return to below 5% of median income. Community consultation will precede any deviation.
3. Target spending for efficiency:
   • Adjust debt repayment to equitably share costs across future generations.
   • Reduce excessive Council costs and bring back budget discipline.
   • Reassess grant funding (increased 150% from 2022-2024), focusing on effectiveness and value for money.
   • Trim “economic development” spending while preserving community-benefit initiatives like the Kāpiti Food Fair, Kāpiti Arts Trail and the Māoriland Film Festival.
   • Align “Regulatory Services” funding with inflation to support local businesses.
4. Preserve community facilities: We will limit spending while protecting access to libraries, parks, and pools. Access charges capped at no more than inflation rates.
5. Streamline depreciation costs: We will continue to fully fund depreciation costs but we will optimise capital spending and review depreciation policies to ensure depreciation is used properly.

This structured, clear plan is designed to ensure rates remain affordable without compromising essential services for the Kāpiti community. What do you think?

COMMON SENSE

What’s happening at KCDC?

1. Core costs are out of control: Staff costs rose by 35% (2022–2024) at the same time as non-core and low-value activities expanded.
2. Spending is way beyond core responsibilities: By adopting the untested “Doughnut Economics” model as its guiding principle, Council has license to spend on nearly everything, including areas beyond local government’s core role, such as:
   • Intergenerational equity reporting (a central government responsibility)
   • Economic development grants ($3.1M/year, mostly from residential rates)
   • Climate change activism (requiring coordinated global action)
   • A health strategy (Health NZ and the Ministry of Health’s domain).
3. Unfocussed spending increases: For example, grant spending surged by 150% (2022–2024), often on non-critical projects.
4. Poor performance and waste: Functions receiving the biggest budget increases perform poorly against the Council’s own targets (reported in its Annual Reports):
   • Governance: 0% performance in 2023/24, 155% funding rise planned for the next 10 years
   • Districtwide Planning: 33% performance in 2023/24, 117% funding rise in the last two years

This Council has lost control of its costs, focus, decision-making, and performance. It doesn’t have to stay this way.

Our Five-Point Plan for Commonsense Spending

1. Refocus Council priorities: Scrap the “Doughnut Economics” model and return to core responsibilities — local infrastructure and community services.
2. Stop unnecessary strategies: Cease reports on activities such as intergenerational equity and health, instead advocate for better central government services in Kāpiti.
3. Trim the bloat and minimise non-core spending: For example, cut excessive costs, bring back budget discipline and reduce economic development spending to essentials.
4. Review grants: Scale back and eliminate waste in grant allocations.
5. Link funding to results: Ensure only functions meeting performance targets receive funding increases.

This plan restores focus and ensures ratepayer money is spent wisely. What do you think?

DEMOCRACY not BUREAUCRACY

What’s Happening?

1. Blindsiding the community: Costly reports created without local input or even knowledge that the project is in progress, e.g. new flood mapping.
2. Predetermined Decisions: Council decisions are effectively made in advance, limiting access to balanced, objective analysis of alternative options.
3. Token consultation: Feedback sessions are poorly advertised, brief, restricted, and often ignored. Drop-in sessions scheduled during work hours. Often no experts are available to answer questions.
4. Community feedback ignored: Action is seen when judicial reviews are started. Little feedback about consultation outcomes.
5. Limited access: Council staff are prevented from connecting with residents and their concerns and perspectives. Inquiries are overly formalised.

Our five-point plan for real local democracy

1. Empower Democratic Decision-Making
   • Invite community participation before options are drafted.
   • Publish comparative analyses of all viable solutions.
   • Ensure council papers are released at least one week before meetings for transparency
   • Examples: Flood Plan Letters, Local Water Done Well, Economic Development Strategy
2. Model Transparent Processes
   • Hold open forums where staff and residents engage respectfully
   • Explore mini-referendums and quarterly polls via rates notices
   • Maintain live-streamed council meetings for accessibility
3. Act on Community Feedback
   • Engage with residents before decisions are made-not afterward
   • Provide clear, detailed plans with budget implications
   • Offer multiple avenues for participation, from local events to public forums
   • Examples: LIM Reports - Coastal hazard findings were selectively reported, limiting transparency
4. Increase Visibility & Accountability
   • Host regular pop-up clinics and accessible meetings, including evenings and weekends
   • Streamline information-request processes to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy
   • Ensure timely responses from council staff, making engagement the norm
   • Commitments:
     • Staff must engage directly with the community
     • Publish quarterly performance reports to track responsiveness
     • This is about real local democracy-ensuring decisions are made with the people, not just for them. Let’s cut the bureaucracy and give power back to the community.
5. Strengthening Staff Responsiveness and Accountability
   • Clear points of contact for inquiries.
   • Timely responses will be the new standard.
   • Commitments:
     • Staff who author papers will attend meetings to hear community feedback early.
     • Rules on communication will be reviewed to enable direct staff-community engagement.
     • Performance targets will be set to improve engagement, with staff expected to meet them.
     • Quarterly reports will track progress on responsiveness.

SUPPORT BUILDING AND BUSINESS GROWTH

KCDC’s lack of support for building and business growth is driving away potential investment, as the challenges make it too difficult to succeed.

What’s happening?

1. Frustration over business and building consents: Approval delays are stalling growth. Excessive hurdles are driving developers, builders, and businesses away from Kāpiti. The impact stretches across ratepayers, developers, and professionals in architecture, real estate, and engineering.
2. Strained public-staff relations: Persistent frustration between residents and staff due to:
   • Accessibility - Unreturned calls, frequent absences
   • Attitude - Defensive, pedantic, often hostile; rising tension with ratepayers and business
   • Process Issues - Conservative stance, no accountability, inconsistent rule interpretation
   • District Plan issues - Outdated, rigid, misaligned with community needs, staff fear liability. Better service and accountability are long overdue
3. Lack of transparency: Applicants unclear on processing timelines, costs, or outcomes.
   • Example: Building consent reviews take statutory 20 days, followed by prolonged requests for information (30–40 days total)
4. High fees: Development levies, reserves contributions, consent fees, etc. make it hard for people to start and maintain business and building projects.
5. Rates trajectory harmful for growth: Affordable rates support business growth and a thriving building industry. If costs keep rising, businesses and residents will be forced to leave, stalling economic development by making it too expensive to live and operate.

Our five-point plan to support business and building growth

1. Improve Public & Staff Relations: Create a customer service & accessibility charter with businesses, developers, iwi and industry to set clear and fair engagement standards. Ensure pre-application agreements are honoured, and staff stay involved through project completion. Accountability and efficiency matter.
2. Develop a Can-Do Attitude: Incentivise building and business growth. Have funding and remuneration for “Regulatory Services” linked to actual performance and public satisfaction measurements. Improve customer feedback loop and make dealing with complaints a priority.
3. Create Transparency: Public reporting of performance against the standards in the “Customer Service and Accessibility Charter” each quarter. Reinforce staff accountability - create oversight committee to monitor developments > $1M
4. Lower Fees Through Smarter Processes: Redesign consenting and compliance procedures with business, builders, developers, iwi, and the community to improve efficiency and cut costs.
5. Keep Rates Affordable: To make Kāpiti a great place to live again, affordable rates will encourage business growth and support building activity.

REALISTIC COSTAL HAZARD POLICIES

Background

Kāpiti Coast’s coastal hazard policies must be based on sound local data, not extreme modelling. In 2012, KCDC added hazard lines to Land Information Memorandums (LIMs) without notice or consultation, affecting 1,800 properties. Coastal Ratepayers United (CRU) challenged this in court, leading to their removal.

A decade later, KCDC’s Coastal Advisory Panel (CAP) used an even more extreme sea level rise model RCP8.5 (Representative Concentration Pathways), impacting 20,000+ properties. CRU commissioned Dr de Lange (formerly of Waikato University) to provide a more realistic assessment, which found only 49 properties at risk. Despite this, KCDC added general hazard notations to LIMs without notice.

Further individual hazard notations are proposed, risking property values and insurability. Decisions have been delayed until December 2026. Sensible, evidence-based solutions are needed.

What’s happening?

1. Wasteful spending: KCDC has spent more than $5m on reports that are being challenged by scientists and those with local knowledge, and that continue to use extreme risk scenarios.
   • The Coastal Advisory Panel’s (CAP) original budget of $1 million exploded past $5 million
   • Another costly mistake - Despite strong opposition to CAP’s extreme modelling, KCDC has once again wasted funds-this time on AWA Consultants’ flood maps that also use using outdated and incorrect data including RCP8.5. More expensive, flawed reports produced without transparency, leaving ratepayers to foot the bill
2. Extreme modelling vs reality: CAP’s projections identify over 20,000 homes at risk, while de Lange’s Report from Waikato University using a local data-driven model confirms we are safe with just 49 homes at risk. CAP dismisses Kāpiti’s coastal resilience, relying on the Jacobs Report, which ignores seawalls and barriers.
3. Council ignored ratepayer concerns and failed democracy:
   • Flawed community engagement - Poor CAP meeting/notification/awareness led to low turnout until residents became aware/stepped in
   • Predetermined outcome - CAP panel pushed a single viewpoint and did not answer questions raised by the public
   • Unannounced LIM changes - The council added the Jacobs Report based on extreme and unlikely data measures without notice, impacting insurance and lowering property values. The de Lange Report was included only after CRU’s Judicial Review forced action
4. KCDC has stepped away from making decisions until December 2026: This means the future coastal flooding risk assessment of nearly 75% of Kāpiti under the proposed “Coastal Adaptation Areas” (CAA) is in limbo, which will affect:
   • Insurance - higher costs, or limited or denied policies
   • Mortgages - banks may limit lending, deny applications, or call in existing loans due to declining property values
   • Property values affecting sales, sale prices and refinancing - properties could become unsellable
5. Little to no investment is made in coastal protection measures. The climate has been changing for millennia and will continue to change. We can prepare for realistic change, but decisions on preventative investments have stalled.

Our five-point plan for realistic coastal hazard policies

1. Develop Sensible Policies Based on Realistic Assumptions: We support that the de Lange Report is based on real data and likely events, and we reject recommendations that rely on implausible science and highly unlikely events. The de Lange report identifies just 49 homes at risk, offering a balanced and affordable path forward. We will assess broader government reforms, including RMA changes and upcoming climate adaptation policies set for 2026.
2. Real Solutions to Real Problems: We’re committed to reducing coastal hazard risks through smart infrastructure investments that protect communities. A range of solutions—seawalls, natural resilience, and real tide gauge data—ensures the right approach at the right time. Evidence-based action matters. We will end the Climate Emergency for Kāpiti and exit the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, both imposed without full community consultation.
3. Commonsense Planning: We will ensure LIM notations are realistic and fair. We will develop local solutions, infrastructure improvements, and adaptation strategies for likely climate change scenarios and support local solutions that avoid harmful government overreach and economic damage.
4. Sensible spending, such as new or strengthened seawalls, directs funds towards practical solutions that provide tangible benefits, rather than squandering money on consultants who produce costly and unacceptable reports that are unusable.
5. Start this year by engaging the community in coastal hazard planning: We will review and ensure that the community’s views are heard and respected before a near-final, “pre-notification consultation” with interested parties and the wider community. It’ll be a done deal if it’s left that late to hear the voices of the community. 

We want to review the science, test options, plan for action, and monitor the impact of those plans over sensible time periods with input from the community at every step of the way. Kāpiti has a safe accreting beach, and we should focus our efforts on likely scenarios, such as earthquakes, rather than on highly unlikely events that rely on implausible data.