Invercargill City Council will commence consultation on changes to fees and charges from Monday 6 March.

Fees and charges are set by Council for services, including animal services, housing care, hiring fees, solid waste, water and roading.

Council Acting Group Manager Finance and Assurance Patricia Christie said fees and charges were one way for Council to raise the revenue that in turn helped to enable delivery of services and ensured ratepayers did not foot the bill for everything. 

Each year, as part of the Annual Plan, Council sets the fees and charges for the forthcoming year and consults on these with the community.

“Fees and charges have been reviewed by managers to consider whether costs are being covered and whether they are in line with market rates,” she said.

“We know it’s a tough time for people in our community, with the cost of living rising significantly in the past year. This is something that also applies to Council and we are looking at how we can minimise cost increases for ourselves as well.”

Most of the changes to fees and charges are in order to keep costs in line with inflation, she said.

Some proposed increased charges include fee adjustments and some new charges in building control, rental costs of between $7 and $9 a week, increases to some resource consent fees and an increase in annual roading charges for footpath use, she said.

There would be an increase in some fees at the Waste Transfer Station as a result of the Emissions Trading Scheme Levy, which are proposed to double. However, the costs to the consumer at the waste transfer station were still very low and the increase would still not cover costs, Christie said.

An increase of water sales fees from 76c to $1 per cubic metre had been proposed, meaning some large volume commercial customers would be significantly impacted, she said.

These proposed changes were line with the strategic direction set in the Financial Strategy and the parameters set in the Revenue and Finance Policy, Christie said.

Consultation on the Fees and Charges Schedule would take place from 6 March to 6 April. The feedback from the public will be brought to Council for consideration in April 2023 with hearings organised if required. The Fees and Charges Schedule must be adopted by the end of June 2023.

For more information, visit 2023/2024 Fees and Charges | Let’s talk Invercargill (icc.govt.nz).