Making the city afforfable
- Andrea Compton
- Aug 3
- 3 min read
Credit: Scoop article written by Andrea Compton 21 July 2025
Wellington faces a mounting affordability crisis. Current and previous city councils have made decisions in isolation, rather than with a cohesive and collaborative strategy. This has led to our city becoming fractured.
What I am proposing is a set of levers to help govern and refocus our council.
Give the council strong parameters. Set a strong direction for the council to operate within.
Drawing on extensive financial analysis and community insight, my plan outlines a clear path to fiscal restraint without sacrificing essential services.
The plan does not require closing community centres, pools or libraries. Quite the contrary. The plan ensures there is enough money for the services our communities value.
Rates have increased by 85% since 2020/21, and by a staggering 245% since 2016/17. Rates are forecast to double again by 2033/34, with the average Wellingtonian paying $11k a year.
Key contributions to these rises include ballooning staff costs, unnecessary duplication of central government roles, and hundreds of millions spent on prestige projects in the name of transformation, while basic infrastructure is neglected.
Our community are doing it tough, really tough. The most compassionate thing our Civic leaders can do for our community is limit rates increases.
The levers
Remodel Growth Predictions - The council had a projected growth of approx. 80,000 within 10 years, then it reduced to 50,000, now sits at 30,000 by 2034. Growth modelling is factored into many city decisions. We are planning, building and paying for a city with 15% growth in 10 years. At the last census, Wellington was the only urban centre with declining growth. The only other place in NZ with a decline in growth was the Chatham Islands. The growth modelling needs to be independently remodelled and factored into future decisions.
Uncover the True Picture - Assumptions are hidden deep within documents and terminology is unclear. Hundreds of documents, with hundreds of pages. Pictures, words, spreadsheets. It’s a jungle of information. A line-by-line audit to understand the detail of where our money is going and the accounting treatment being applied such as depreciation and debt funding. Make it clear and transparent the exact state of affairs and the precursors to decisions.
Define Core Services - The government has indicated that changes are coming to the Local Government Act to remove references to community wellbeing (social, economic, environmental and cultural), and get councils to “stick to the basics”. The council needs to compile a full list of services the council provides. Each service would then need to be researched to understand if this service is currently provided by central government or private enterprise. The intention is to then remove duplicate services. Stop Wellingtonians paying twice for services provided by Central Government, or using ratepayer monies to supply services that private businesses are already providing.
Benchmark Against Other Councils - Of the remaining services the council would then be providing, we should learn what like-sized council are doing to provide for their communities and at what cost. Learn from the findings and implement those changes where the community agrees.
Top-Down Budgeting - Currently the Long Term Plan and Annual Plans are built through bottom-up budgeting. A wish list of everything the council wants to do. After remodelling growth, auditing the books, removing duplicate services and benchmarking, the cost base will reduce. Budgeting would then move to top down, the same as Wellington households. Priorities assigned to expenditure and running a ruler through once the limit is met. This is a common strategy all over the world.6. Alternative funding sourcesRatepayers are not the only source of revenue. The council needs to investigate alternative forms of funding. Government regional deals, Private Capital, selling non income generating assets (vacant properties, road reserves), Enable the set up a capital investment fund, review development contributions.
This strategy does not require the sale of income-generating assets.
Residual monies are then used to reduce ballooning debt, lower rates for all ratepayers, invest in more infrastructure, or even reduce the commercial differential our business community pays.
These principles form the backbone of my campaign and will guide my decision-making when elected.
Wellington doesn’t need more politics — it needs priorities.
Andrea Compton is an independent candidate for the Northern Ward in the 2025 election. She is a Chartered Accountant, with a strong background in infrastructure and finance.
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