Whakatāne District Council is proposing some price adjustments to its Fees and Charges Schedule and wants to hear from the public on those changes.
Council's Long Term Plan 2021-2031 (LTP) outlined a 'rates smoothing' model for three years, with rates increases capped at 6.93% per year. However, unforeseen costs require a 2.2% increase in the budget for the 2022/23 financial year, over and above the current 6.93% increase approved in the LTP.
Council wants to maintain its commitment to a capped rates increase of 6.93% per year for the first three years of the LTP and fund the budget increase for 2022-2023 through a combination of adjustments which includes increases to some user pays fees and charges.
Whakatāne District Mayor Judy Turner says user fees and charges are one of the ways that Council can recover some of the costs of delivering an activity or service directly from those who use, and therefore benefit, from the activity or service.
"Fees and charges generally don’t cover the full cost of delivering an activity or service. This means for most activities there is a user pays portion and a portion funded by rates," she says. “We’re proposing two options for adjusting our fees and charges; one that will target specific activities, and one that will lift charges across a broader range of activities and services."
Council's preferred option proposed would see specific charges for building consents and transfer station fees increasing. Council sets a band for the user pays proportion of the total cost of an activity. Moving fees and charges up the charging band for these services brings the cost that is recovered by the user more into line with the benefit the user receives and the intent of Council's Revenue and Financing Policy.
A second option proposed is to spread the increase across a broader range of fees and charges (rather than just targeting specific service users). The broader range of fees that Council could immediately increase are ones that are not governed by a legislative process for change, such as resource consent fees.
Mayor Turner concludes by noting she and Councillors are keen to know what people think about the changes to the Fees and Charges Schedule for 2022/23. "Any person or organisation is welcome to give feedback by making a submission. Council will consider all submissions before we adopt the final Fees and Charges Schedule."
Consultation opens Friday, 18 March 2022 and closes on Friday, closes at 5 pm Friday 15 April 2022.
Find out more about the Fees and Charges Proposal and make a submission »