RMA consent fee increases confirmed

The Far North District Council has confirmed increases to its resource consent processing fees, effective from next month (01 March 2010).


The increases which average around 10% will be applied to processes required under the Resource Management Act and follow a similar increase in building consent fees introduced in November last year.


Environmental Management General Manager Fran Mikulicic says the increases were needed to keep pace with inflation and help compensate for a shortfall between fees received and operating costs.


"The new schedule more accurately reflects the actual costs of administering resource consent processes. Together with improvements to internal operating efficiencies, the fee adjustments will bring the books closer to a point at which costs and income will be self-balancing.


"The new Far North fee schedules compare well with those set by other district councils across New Zealand. We are still within the lower 50% range," she says.


The new schedule was confirmed following a public consultation process initiated last year and takes effect from 01 March 2010. To protect against any changes in GST, any percentage rise will automatically be applied to the fee schedules.