The affordability of waste disposal and dog control fees were raised as issues of particular concern by the community.

Our Resource Recovery Centres are receiving less waste than forecast, due to the recent economic downturn, waste minimisation initiatives and some waste being taken directly to York Landfill.

We had proposed an 18% increase in mixed refuse charges but reduced this to 15% to address affordability concerns and try and ensure waste is more affordably managed.

Elected Members also discussed the proposed increase in dog registration fees in response to the submissions opposing this. The fees have only had minimal increases over the past decade so the increase was proposed to recover the costs of providing a sustainable and fit-for-purpose dog control service, and to ensure that those benefiting from the service are the ones paying for it, rather than general ratepayers.

This means that urban dogs will cost $90 for the coming year, rural dogs will cost $70, and a new category for working dogs will be introduced with a $50 registration fee. The resulting fees are comparable with the dog registration fees of many other councils across the country.

The annual monitoring and administration fee for mooring licences was reduced from the proposed $226 to $153 in response to submissions.

Submissions closed 28 April

The consultation period has now closed. Thank you to everyone who made a submission.

Submissions will be available to view on our website here: TDC Submissions

Hearings will be held on 16 May and Deliberations will take place on 27 May.

Any changes to the Fees and Charges will be adopted by Council on 25 June, to take effect from 1 July.

Background

The Council sought your views on the Draft Schedule of Fees and Charges 2025/2026. Changes were proposed to our fees and charges to help cover some of the costs of functions, services, and activities, in line with our Revenue and Financing Policy. We set fees and charges annually at the same time as the Annual Plan or Long Term Plan process. This ensures fees and charges are up to date and reflect the actual and reasonable cost of the services and activities it provides. These charges will take effect on 1 July 2025 and will stay in place until they are updated, which could happen during the year.

Why do we have fees and charges?

Fees and charges allow for some recovery of Council’s costs of providing services from the direct users, rather than general rates. People should pay for an activity if they directly benefit from it or are responsible for it, if the costs can be linked back to them. For example, Port Tarakohe users directly benefit from the port’s facilities, so they are responsible for covering the costs. That's why user charges are the main way the port costs are funded.

Why are changes being proposed?

Costs to provide our services have increased and we have to cover those costs. We can either recover it ALL through rates or recover some of it through user fees and charges.

Summary of changes

Most fees and charges have been increased by 10% to recover costs and account for inflation. These increases are identified in the Draft Schedule. Where appropriate, fees and charges have been rounded up or down to the nearest dollar.

Some fees and charges have not changed or are increasing by less than 10%. This is due to fees already adequately covering service costs or they are set by statute. Some fees and charges are proposed to increase above 10% in order to adequately recover costs from users. There are also some new fees proposed.

Key fee areas with increases above 10% to cover the rising costs of services include:

• cemetery fees,
• water supply network charges,
• waste fees,
• and dog control.

A full summary of changes along with specific fee changes can be found in the Statement of Proposal for the Draft Schedule of Fees and Charges 2025/2026.

Authority to charge

Fees and charges can be set under section 150 of the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA), or under specific legislation, i.e. the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), the Building Act 2004 (BA), Food Act 2014 (FA), Dog Control Act 1996 (DCA), Impounding Act 1955, Biosecurity Act 1983, Utilities Access Act 2010, Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA), Maritime Transport Act 1994 (MTA), Local Government Act 1974 (LGA 74).
Where there is no legislation specified for the setting of fees and charges in this Schedule, Council relies on its general power of competency under section 12 of the LGA for other services and activities.