Tauranga City Council is currently drafting the city’s budget for the next financial year, we call it the Annual Plan 2025/26. From 28 March to 28 April 2025, Council’s elected members and staff will be speaking directly with communities about the proposed budget decisions and listening to their feedback to understand what is most important for the city.
Tauranga is a growing city, and we need to commit to a certain level of investment to maintain what we have now and provide for our future growth. But a challenging economic outlook, combined with a drop in central government funding and increasing debt costs, means we have less to spend than we expected in the next financial year.
Together, we have some important decisions to make on where we prioritise our spending in the next year and beyond.
Through this annual plan process, Council is looking to make operational savings across its day-to-day services and prioritise the city’s investment needs, that way we will lessen rates increases to ensure life in Tauranga is fair and as affordable as possible.
Guiding principles
To shape the draft Annual Plan and our future direction, we have identified key guiding principles that will take us towards a balanced budget:
- Looking after what we’ve got
- Everyone pays a fair share
- Ongoing financial, economic, social, cultural, and environmental sustainability
- Affordability
- Robust and transparent financial analysis
- Growth pays for growth
- Value for money.
The top priority for this annual budget will be to ensure we deliver a budget that adheres to these principles while still aiming to deliver the best possible outcomes for our city.
Between 28 March - 28 April, tell us if you think we’ve found the right balance.