The cap has been raised from $1.2 billion to $1.6b, which is a scale of increase significantly higher than that which the council approved two years ago, when the ceiling was raised by $250m.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said the council was achieving a lot of work at a time of high interest rates and inflation.
Mr Radich, who voted against the 2021 increase when he was a councillor, said yesterday he was satisfied the council was becoming more fiscally prudent.
Cr Lee Vandervis lamented what he described as an ever-growing debt mountain.
Children were having their futures mortgaged because of an unprecedented level of spending, he said.
The council’s budgeting should be redone, he said.
Deputy mayor Sophie Barker said the council was committed to building a city to meet current and future needs.
Cr Cherry Lucas said it was too late to make changes now, but hard decisions were likely required next year.
Depending on the outcome of this year’s general election, the council might still hold assets and debt relating to accelerated Three Waters expenditure, she said.
Cr Jim O’Malley said the group, which included council companies, needed to be able to execute decisions that had been made.
Much of the increase is to allow Aurora Energy to continue to invest in its network, as it is required to do.
The council’s group borrowing arrangements require uncalled share capital from the Dunedin City Holdings Ltd set of companies to be higher than group debt.
Term loans across the group are forecast to rise to almost $1.55b by the end of June 2026.
