Tauranga City Council no longer accepts cash as a form of payment.

The council made the decision to go cashless due to “high costs that accompany the management of cash payments”, said library and community hubs manager Joanna Thomas.

She said the ever-decreasing cash-paying customers along with continued safety and security concerns for staff were also a deciding factor to go cashless.

According to council stats, 99% of payments for council fees were made online in the last financial year and 0.9% were paid in person via Eftpos or credit card. See below for more facts and figures about why the council decided to go cashless.

“As of March 31, 2025, council no longer accepts cash as a form of payment. We encourage people to come see our friendly staff at their local Library Community Hub and they can help to set up a different payment method.

“We know this could be [a] tricky change for some, and we’re committed to helping people with this change, so we’ve been talking to our cash-using customers since early this year and walking them through alternative payment methods when they’ve visited one of our Library Community Hubs.”

For people who want to continue to pay cash, Thomas said they can do so at participating Post Shops for their rates, water rates, dog registration (single dog owners only) and parking fines.

There are seven Post Shops that provide this service in Tauranga.

Thomas said the best way to pay for rates and water rates was to set up a direct debit.

Customers can also pay online at www.tauranga.govt.nz using internet banking or by debit or credit card.

Customers can also still come in and pay in person at their local Library Community Hub using Eftpos or credit card, or in person at participating Post Shops using cash or Eftpos.

For more information, visit www.tauranga.govt.nz/cashless

Why are we going cashless? Facts and figures

-0.1% were paid in cash. This represented 1270 transactions, and 579 customers.

-Property and water rates payments are by far the largest transaction types attracting cash payments, followed by dog registrations and parking infringements. Cash payments for these transactions were previously only accepted at He Puna Manawa (21 Devonport Road).

-The libraries and the pound also used to accept cash for payment of their fees.

-Excluding the February and August rate payment periods, the council receives on average four or five payments per day in cash.

-It costs about $56,000 per year to maintain cash as a payment option (direct costs for training, security and collection) and takes up valuable staff time

-The removal of cash as a payment option is a trend seen in libraries and local government service centres across the country, including Auckland and Wellington, and smaller councils.