Development Contributions and Financial Contributions Policy

Waitaki District Council is making some changes to its Policy on Development Contributions and Financial Contributions and we would love your feedback!

Consultation on this policy is open 4 February - 4 March 2025.

Overview of the Policy

The Waitaki district continues to experience growth in population and economic activity. This growth is provided for by development and subdivision activity which places an increased demand on council’s infrastructure and reserves network.

Council believes development and financial contributions are the most appropriate funding tools to fund the additional costs they incur to provide for this growth. Development Contributions are levied against developers to fund for the increased costs associated with growth. They are an integral part of economic development and are used to fund new or additional infrastructure, or to increase the capacity of existing infrastructure, and contribute to the costs of additional demand placed on the district’s infrastructure such as roads, water supply and wastewater disposal. The projects are outlined in Council’s Long Term Plan.

Ratepayers in general should not be burdened unnecessarily with the cost of increasing capacity for new developments if they are not receiving any of the benefit.

Assessment of the increased demand is calculated in the fairest way possible. It is a complex model based on individual developments and classes of development.

Read the Statement of Proposal

The key changes to the 2025 Policy on Development Contributions and Financial Contributions are:

• Introduced a remission for development on Maori land to support the principles set out in the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993.
• Introduced a remission for Social Housing developments to support this activity in our community.
• Introduced a remission for residential care for non-premium care beds.
• Expanded the definition of Development Contributions to reflect the Local Government Act (2002).
• Defined the interest rate basis to be applied to deferred payment agreements.
• Reviewed the definition of “self-contained” for clarity.
• Made minor grammatical or spelling corrections.
• Reflected the year of the policy, the Long Term Plan, and updated modelling throughout.