New figures show councils tripled their operating deficits to $0.6 billion in the year to June 2011.
Statistics New Zealand's local authority financial figures shows operating income rose 6.5% compared with the previous year, while income from rates increased 4.9%.
Spending on core services was up nearly 12%.
Councils nearly tripled recorded their surplus on all transactions to $3.5 billion , while their assets increased by 17%.
