Matamata-Piako District Mayor Ash Tanner told
Stuff, council needs to be brave enough to bite the bullet. “I’m comfortable with it because it’s a real figure. “We’ve seen it – other councils have gone out unrealistically low, just to be popular and ultimately it’s going to bite you.” In the Waikato, Thames-Coromandel announced a 7.1 per cent rise, Hamilton City proposed an 8.9 per cent rate increase – on the back of a rate freeze last year and the Waipa District faces a 4.1 per cent hike. While Waitomo is proposing a second year of a zero rate increase. Before the increase, Matamata-Piako had the 11th cheapest rates in the country, at $2116, according to a Taxpayer Union and Auckland Ratepayers Alliance report.