Published: 19 February 2026
Hutt City Council has today released a report titled Adjusting Our Sails. This sets out a new target operating model and responds to dealing with the unprecedented change facing local government. It outlines a programme to reduce Council’s costs to be able to respond to rates capping and cost of living challenges for the years ahead.
Adjusting Our Sails highlights the bold choices Council must grapple with to reduce costs and improve affordability for ratepayers, having exhausted opportunities through years of cost trimming.
If the Government’s proposed rate cap of around 4% is to be met, Council needs to save approximately $24M annually by 2034. The report shows that savings of this scale cannot be made without fundamental changes to the services Council provides and the assets it owns. This is in an environment where cost increases affecting the economy flow onto councils driving up the price of key infrastructure and roading.
Key insights from the report include:
- Council has made savings of $55M in recent years as part of the long term plan and annual plan processes, representing the conclusion of easier “cost-trimming” opportunities
- The current annual budget is driven by: $30M in annual financing costs, $106M in annual depreciation charges, $56M in employee costs and $176M million in supplier costs
- Hutt City Council has fewer staff and spends less than comparative councils on both a per/household and per/resident basis
- Compared to similar sized councils, Lower Hutt is over-served for both pools and library/hub facilities.
The report highlights Council's strengths to build on, including recent IT/digital investments, significant infrastructure investment, and sector leadership on AI adoption.
Mayor Fauono Ken Laban has welcomed the report, as the reality check everyone needs to tackle the challenges ahead.
“As Mayor my role is to ensure that the scale of our ambition as a Council is affordable for everyone who lives, works and runs a business in our city. With costs increasing for our community we need to ensure that our organisation is future fit and able to respond effectively to change.
”When I was campaigning, the clear message I heard was that our community wanted their Council to understand they were financially hurting, and to reduce future rates rises,” Mayor Ken says.
“I committed to leading a budget review to find savings and ease financial pressure. The report released today sets out the tough choices we need to make.
"This report makes it clear – the driver of Council’s rising costs is not staffing. It’s the assets we hold, the cost to maintain them, services we contract out and the need for infrastructure renewal.
“We need to come together as a city and discuss a way forward. We cannot continue doing the same things and owning the same assets if we are to reduce operating costs.”
Mayor Ken is clear that the report is not a confirmed set of decisions, and any changes will require democratic decision making and community engagement.
“The Adjusting Our Sails report released today will form the basis of Council’s work in my first term – and the community will have opportunities to engage through the Annual Plan and Long Term Plan processes.
“I want to send a clear signal: as we develop our next Long Term (10 year) Plan over the next 12 months, we will be engaging with you about service rationalisation and asset divestment.
“This is not a message I enjoy sharing – I know our services and assets are valued by our community. However, as Mayor I will always be transparent about what it takes to reduce cost pressures.”
Chief Executive Jo Miller said the report provides a clear, evidence-based foundation for future discussions and will help Council respond to rates capping and other significant changes facing the sector.
“Local government is experiencing significant change and all councils are under pressure in this operating environment,” Jo Miller says.
“Like all councils our operating costs continue to increase. It’s timely to look at the volume and manner of service delivery whilst driving more efficiencies through further use of technology, including AI and automation.
Jo Miller says Adjusting Our Sails is a proactive approach to enable Council to make decisions that will be incorporated into future plans.
“I’m proud of this report that has been developed based on sound evidence and a cohesive view of the services we provide. We wanted to put the best information forward for the Mayor and Councillors to consider. This report does exactly that by presenting the challenges and information to be considered by our governors in a concise format. None of the choices are easy, but they must be faced.”
You can find a link to the full report here and more information on the Hutt City Council website.