FAQs

The Annual Plan is a document that outlines what the Council plans to do over the next financial year, including the projects, infrastructure and services it will deliver, and what these will cost. 

All councils are required to make these plans.

The long-term plan (LTP) is the key planning tool for councils across New Zealand. It documents the Council’s plans for the next 10 years – what projects we’re committing to complete and how they will be paid for.

These plans are shaped in consultation with the community and built around its priorities. The Council makes an LTP once every three years (setting out the direction for the district over the next 10 years), and for the two years in between the Long-Term Plan, we make Annual Plans. 

The Annual Plans take into account anything that has changed or needs to change since the Long-Term Plan was developed, such as new government regulations, or unexpected events that impact budgets.

More information on Long-Term Plans.

This is the Council’s first Annual Plan since the local body elections in 2025. It is the new Council’s first opportunity to set the direction for the district in the year ahead and address the feedback it heard from the community during the elections.

This draft Annual Plan also follows the most significant local government reform since 1989, with various government bills and amendments underway. This is an opportunity to prepare for the changes that are coming, one of which is a rates cap that would restrict rates increases to between 2% and 4%.

Its also the first plan developed since Selwyn Water took over delivery of water and wastewater services. The fees and charges for these services will now be coordinated and collected by Selwyn Water so they are no longer outlined in the Annual Plan.

Rates are payments made by property owners to the Council to provide essential services, facilities and infrastructure to the communities in its district.  

Other sources of funding for the Council are fees and charges, development contributions, subsidies and grants.

Rates are calculated using the capital value of your property and a mix of general and targeted rates which pay for services and facilities that benefit the whole district, and specific ones that benefit your area.

This means that, depending on a property’s rateable value, location and services received from the Council, some residents may need to pay more and others less than the proposed rate movement. For example, if the rates increase for the upcoming year was 5.4%, some properties in the district may be charged more than 5.4%, whist some may pay less than 5.4%.

General rates fund a wide range of Council services and facilities that benefit the whole district. All rateable properties are charged based on the capital value of the property. This provides the funding for all Council operations that are not financed by targeted or special rates.

Targeted rates are charged where a Council service or facility benefits a particular group of ratepayers or a certain location. These rates and charges are only paid for by properties within particular areas to recover the costs of providing and maintaining specific functions.

Targeted rates can be district-wide (e.g. Canterbury Museum) or localised (your local Community Board).

Rates are proposed to increase by a weighted average of either 4.9%, 5.4%, or 6.5%, depending on which option Council chooses after consultation.

The exact amount for your property will vary based on your capital value, location, and the services you receive.

Right now, we are asking for community feedback on whether you think we should reduce the rates increase to 6.5%, 5.4% or 4.9%. Each percentage has impacts on the services and projects we deliver so we want to know what you think before making a final decision. 

Here are some examples of the cost of household rates if Council approved a rates increase of 5.4% It’s important to note that these examples don’t include fees and charges for drinking water and waste water services – from 1 July 2026 these services and their infrastructure will be billed for by Selwyn Water

To calculate your rates, use our property search tool to find your property’s valuation and specific charges. 

Property search: https://online.selwyn.magiqcloud.com/rates/properties/search

There are many reasons why rates increase, including inflation, rising costs for delivering or maintaining services and infrastructure, and the price of insurance. 

Rates increases are necessary for the Council to continue providing essential services like rubbish collection, maintaining roads, and managing parks and community facilities.

Rates are an important way that the Council funds the essential services that keep Selwyn thriving, such as collecting your rubbish and recycling, keeping roads maintained, and managing community facilities such as libraries and recreation centres. 

Your rates work for you 24/7, providing great value for the services that you, your neighbours and communities across the district enjoy.

Rates invoices are sent in four installments throughout the year (1 July – 30 June). The Council will send you a letter (or an email if you have opted to receive a digital rates bill) each year advising you of the due dates for payments that year.  

Low income earners may be eligible for a rates rebate. The rebate will be calculated using your household income, rates and the number of dependants you have.

The income eligibility for a rebate is $45,000 (SuperGold Cardholders) or $32,210 (Non-SuperGold Cardholders). However, if your household income exceeds this amount, you could still be entitled to a rebate depending on the total cost of your rates and number of dependents.

To check if your eligible, and for information about how to apply, click here.

If you are aged 65 years or over and experiencing extreme financial hardship or other special circumstances, you can apply for a rates postponement.

Read more about our rates postponement policy.

Payment plans are also available. You can contact the Council to set up a plan.

For any questions about rates, please email rates@selwyn.govt.nz or call our friendly customer services team on 0800 SELWYN (735 996).

Selwyn Water Limited (Selwyn Water) was established in July 2025 as a new Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO) to deliver drinking and wastewater services. These used to be provided by Selwyn District Council. The change was implemented as part of central government reforms.

From 1 July 2026, water and wastewater charges will no longer be included in Council rates. Customers will receive direct, itemised water bills from Selwyn Water, clearly showing what they are paying for and how charges support service delivery.

Selwyn Water will set its fees and charges for the 2026/27 year in line with its draft Water Services Strategy (WSS), proposed to go out for public engagement in May 2026. At the moment the draft figure is around 18%. 

For an average urban household receiving both drinking water and wastewater services (including volumetric charges based on the average urban water use of 257m3), the expected annual increase has reduced from $372 to $280, a savings of $92 from what was originally indicated. This brings the total bill for 2026/27 to around $1,831, or less with lower water usage.

For households receiving drinking water only, the expected increase has reduced from $178 to $135, bringing the total annual bill to around $879, down from $922.

Selwyn District Council contracts Quotable Value (QV) to value properties on its behalf.

A rating valuation is assigned to every property in New Zealand and is made up of:

• Capital Value (CV) - this is what your property is likely to have sold for at the date of the council’s last general valuation. It includes buildings and improvements. It does not include chattels, stock, crops, machinery or trees. The CV is also known as the Rateable Value (RV), and was previously known as the Government Valuation (GV).
• Land Value (LV) - this is the mostly likely selling price of bare land at valuation date. It includes drainage, excavation, filling, retaining walls, reclamation, grading, levelling, vegetation clearing, soil improvement, and protection from erosion or flooding. It does not include buildings.
• Value of Improvements (VI) - this is just the difference between the land value and the capital value. It’s important to note here it does not mean the replacement cost of buildings and services on a property. It reflects the value which buildings and improvements add to the bare land.

For more information on rating valuation, visit About Rating Valuations on QV’s website

Council is aiming to reduce how much rates subsidises certain services. To help keep the overall rates increase low, some fees are being adjusted, such as:

• Dog registration increasing by $8
• Building consent fees increasing by around 25%
• Fitness class fees increasing from $10.90 to $12, and membership fees rising by 7%

These proposed changes will help Council reduce costs that would otherwise be spread across everyone’s rates

We are proposing to reduce the amount of funding provided for events in the next financial year in order to help reduce the rates increase next financial year. This would mean that some events would have their funding by Council scaled back, or that we would not run them in the next 12 months. 

Specifically we are considering not running the Teddy Bears Picnic or Music in the Park next year. We would also scale back the amount of funding provided to Kite Day.

No decisions have been made yet we want to hear the communities feedback on the proposals to help Council decide what to do.

We are proposing to rephase serval large projects by 12 months these include:

• Selwyn and Crossing Road roundabout (SNP)
• Lincoln ‘Park N Ride’ 
• Rolleston Town Centre development 
• Springs and Hamptons Road roundabout 
• Kakaha Park stormwater remediation 
• Tennyson and Moore Street roundabout 
• Moore Street extension 
• Whitecliffs Bridge replacement professional services 
• Lincoln Town Centre upgrade 
• Selwyn District Council offices - pod/meeting space extension

Council is reviewing the scope, scale and size of the District Park to see if cost savings can be found and to ensure it matches actual growth levels. The detailed design is now planned for the 2027/28 year.

We are proposing to reduce some library programmes and exhibitions in the next financial year.

Instead, we would be using more local or existing material and rotating exhibitions less often.

This will help reduce costs while still keeping core library services available.

To help reduce operating costs and streamline services, Council is proposing to reduce some facilities operating hours over the Christmas/New Year break and public holidays and move most community facilities to cashless payments.

We are proposing to increase building consent fees in order to reduce the amount of funding currently provided via rates and move the costs of the services onto those who are using those services. Currently these services are funded by both user charges and rates. Increasing fees means that more of the funding is being provided by user charges. 

We are also aligning the charges with the actual costs to provide those services.

You can make a submission any time up until 11:59pm on Sunday 26 April 2026.

You can submit:

•    By filling out the online submission form

•    By email: yoursay@selwyn.govt.nz

•    By post (Freepost 104 653)

•    Or drop your submission form into the drop box at any Selwyn District Council facility.