​Key outcomes from Ordinary Council meeting 28 April 2026

You can watch the recording of the meeting on Council’s YouTube channel.

Please note these are informal notes on the key outcomes from the meeting. The formal minutes and official record will be endorsed at the next council meeting. The agenda and (when confirmed) the minutes are available on the council website.

Minutes and Committees – council confirmed the minutes from the March council meeting and March Extra Ordinary council meeting. They received the minutes from several committees including the February Performance and Delivery Committee, and Bay of Plenty Mayoral Forum. They received the draft minutes from the April Coast Community Board meeting.

Papers also included the regular reports from the Chief Executive and Mayor.

Public forum – there were no speakers at the public forum.

2025 Triennial elections – this report has been provided following last year’s elections on 11 October. It ensures that the elections were ‘conducted satisfactorily and on time and met all legislative and practical requirements.’ There are also some details and statistics about voter turnout, representation and electoral systems. There was some discussion around:

• Clarifying the difference for Coast voters – those on the General Roll vote for the Rural Ward Councillor and those on the Māori Roll vote for the Coast Ward councillor
• The Mayor mentioned that the Māori ward councillors may want to consider changing the names of the new wards before 2027 to be reflected in the next elections in 2028.

Ratepayer Assistance Scheme – council voted to provide in-principle support to participation in the proposed Ratepayer Assistance Scheme (RAS). Any other decisions, including any financial implications, will come back to council for approval.

RAS is a sector-led initiative aimed to improve affordability of local government charges while supporting sustainable infrastructure investment. You can read more about the scheme and intended outcomes on the LGNZ website.

Fees and charges for 2026/27 – Council adopted the fees and charges schedule for the rating year from 1 July. These changes follow a request from council to be reviewed review the Fees and Charges to focus on cost recovery mechanisms – a more user-pays approach

Most charges reflect CPI increases (around 2.5%). One other change ensures the Schedule reflects the current use of the weighbridge at Ōpōtiki Resource Recovery Centre (RRC). The biggest change is to update volume water charging to reflect changes in moving to an internal business unit for water services. You can read background and some of the key discussion points on the council’s Hono Mai page.

2026/27 Annual Plan – Council approved the Information Document for public release so that the Annual Plan can be adopted by 30 June. The Information Document is a summary of the Annual Plan and will be shared for informal feedback from the community as the contents are not substantially different to what was proposed for year three of the Long Term Plan 2024-34.

Public excluded business – council confirmed in-committee meeting minutes and workshop notes.