Wellington City Councillors have agreed to raise rates by 13.5 percent for the incoming year to try and combat the "significant" challenges the city faces.
Councillor Fleur Fitzsimmons told Newshub she wishes the increase was more affordable - but it can't be helped.
"[The increase] is really high and we recognise that, but it's a responsible one. You don't need to look very far in Wellington to see we have failing water infrastructure, major challenges with climate change and also real problems with the safety of our inner city."
Water infrastructure in the capital is in dire straits, with between 20 and 30 percent of the city's water and wastewater pipes having already passed their use-by dates. Pipes frequently break, spewing water or sewage across the roads. In the past year, more than 2000 pipes broke.
Safety in the inner city is also reaching a crisis point. Crime data from the Willis Street-Cambridge Terrace area shows 242 people reported being the victims of crime during December 2019.
That includes all types of crime. That dropped to 32 for April last year - during lockdown.But victim numbers shot up again in October 2020 and continued to climb, with 255 people reporting being the victims of crime this February.
Fitzsimmons says the rates increase "will go a long way" to making the city "safe and vibrant again".
The 13.5 percent increase is actually less than the other proposed increase - a whopping 16 percent. Fitzsimmons says this would have been "completely unrealistic and a step too far".
She says while all councillors would have preferred a smaller increase, the reality is increases have been put off for "far too long" - and she believes at the end of the day, it's what the community wants.
"The community wants us to invest in core infrastructure."
