Council proposes increases to range of fees and charges

Increases to a range of fees and charges including building consents, planning and dog registration, agreed at last week’s Council meeting will go forward into the city’s draft 10-Year Plan.

Council agreed the changes at the midway point of a series of meetings taking place over September and October reviewing the entire business of Council as part of building the 2012-22 Plan. The public will have their say on the Plan when it is put out for consultation in March.

Many of the proposed increases would bring Council into line with other metropolitan cities as it presently has comparably low charges. Among the changes agreed for consultation are a 20% increase in building consent fees, increases of 64-100% for LIM fees, a 25% increase to planning fees and charges and a 5% increase for food premises registration.

Dog registration fees which are at the lower end of the scale compared to other councils, will increase by 20% with this increase spread over three years. Staff will also explore payment of registration fees by instalment and different fees for working dogs and dangerous dogs.

Councillors were assured a proposed $40,000 reduction in the Noise Control budget would not have any significant impact on the service currently provided by the contractor, with staff working with them to make the savings agreed.

Some of staff’s recommendations around proposals to Waikato Museum, including ArtsPost were turned down by Councillors, who asked staff to come back to a later meeting with less far-reaching cuts to services and budget.

Due to a lack of time, Swimming Facilities and Zoo services due to be considered at this meeting were held over for consideration at the next 10-Year Plan meeting on 11 October.