Households were undercharged between $3 and $100 each, with an average undercharge of $40 per levy payer. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
A $3.43 million budgeting error will see Wellington ratepayers fork out on average an extra $40 over their next two rates bills.
This year's rates increases in the city included a levy to pay for the capital's new sludge minimisation plant, which RNZ reported in August was expected to blowout to half a billion dollars.
The council told media on Wednesday it had discovered an error that caused it to undercharge the levy in the quarterly rates invoices sent on 1 August and 1 November.
Households were undercharged between $3 and $100 each, with an average undercharge of $40 per levy payer. Commercial levy payers owed between $500 and $5,000, with an average of $1200.
The total undercharged amount was $3.43 million, which the council was legally required to collect to build the new plant.
The undercharge would be added to the two remaining rates invoices to be sent on 1 February and 1 May 2026.
Most of the extra costs would be included in the February bill.
WCC chief strategy and finance officer Andrea Reeves said the council sincerely apologised for the error.
"It was discovered during a quarterly reporting review, and council took immediate action to review how the error occurred.
"To prevent this happening again, stronger internal controls have been put in place, including additional review steps."
The council said the levy was uploaded to its billing system where some amounts of money were entered as GST-inclusive instead of GST-exclusive causing an incorrect fixed charge to be used.
It comes after a recently released independent report found issues with the council's asset management and contract procurement process.
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