Financial savings at the heart of Annual Plan proposals

Published: 13 February 2025

Last Updated: 20 February 2025

Future options for some Napier City Council facilities are on the table ahead of the 2025/26 Annual Plan consultation.

Next week elected members will consider what will be included in the Plan’s consultation, which the public can feed back on from late March.

Napier City Mayor Kirsten Wise explains the consultation has some difficult decisions in it and requires quality public input.

“We know that this year’s rates increase was really hard. I want our residents to know that Council has heard you. All initiatives to be voted on for inclusion in the consultation are about financial sustainability and ensuring that future rates rises are kept as low as possible.”

Main topics proposed for the forthcoming consultation are potential new options for the National Aquarium of New Zealand, Napier isite Visitor Centre, Par 2 Mini Golf and the Faraday Museum of Technology. Also proposed to be consulted on is the closure of Napier Library, ahead of the city’s new library opening in mid-2027.

The proposed 7.9% rates increase covers inflation-related increases to do with projects, fees and contracts, electricity, gas and insurance costs.

“It is important that we keep doing the essentials well. The proposed rates increase will help to ensure we keep services and activities running that make Napier a great place to live, work or visit,” says Mayor Wise.

Napier Library

Council will consider whether to include a proposal to close Napier Library from 1 July. This will help to keep the rates increase below 8% and will enable staff to prepare for the forthcoming opening of the new library in mid-2027. Taradale Library would remain open and the mobile library’s hours and services would be extended.

“Napier Library must close at some point before the new one opens in 2027. Whether it closes now or later, we’ll focus on making the new library’s services the best they can be for our community,” says Mayor Wise.

Other facilities

Proposals for four other facilities will be considered for inclusion in the consultation. Council’s plans are not detailed financial proposals.

“Before we dig into detailed financials, we first want to know what people think about the general direction. Once we’ve heard from the community on our initial thinking, we’ll decide whether to proceed with business cases. At that point, we would need to do further consultation,” says Mayor Wise.

Council’s preferred option for the National Aquarium of New Zealand is to close the Aquarium, demolish the building and construct a new building in its place. A visitor attraction with a nature and conservation educational focus would be in the building that would bring in revenue to Council.

“We’ve been openly discussing the Aquarium’s future for years. We’ve got some hard decisions to make, and we want to know what residents think before we drill into the details.”

Council is proposing that a third-party operates Napier isite in an alternative visitor location. The current isite building on Marine Parade would be commercially leased to a third party for another purpose. Council is proposing that Par 2 Mini Golf is leased to the same entity that leases the isite building.

The Faraday Museum of Technology is proposed to be placed into a charitable entity. The charity would run the Faraday, with a one-off capital grant and ongoing yearly operational grants to help the museum cover its costs.

“Our most important priority in these proposals, is that they reduce the rates burden on our residents,” says Mayor Wise.

“We want to ensure any new activities deliver on our priorities of Napier being a great visitor destination and a city that has places that locals love to visit,” says Mayor Wise.

The Council meeting to adopt the topics for consultation will take place on Thursday 20 February. The Annual Plan consultation opens on 31 March.

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