Queenstown rates skyrocket on leaky buildings, council cost blowouts

Oaks Shores: a "confidential settlement" for leaky building damage. (Image: Supplied)

Tue, 21 Mar 2023

The Queenstown Lakes district council wants to ramp up average rates by 13.6% for the coming year to recoup escalating operational and building defect settlement costs.The council cites confidentiality in not disclosing settlements for leaky building claims in its latest draft annual plan for 2023-24.However, the draft annual plan for 2023-24 noted a variance in the council’s equity of $194.2 million, though that also includes valuation movements for the year.There have been a number of claims, but the biggest – dating back to 2015...

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