Kaipara District Council will soon be asking the community for feedback on its proposed fees and charges for the coming year (2025/2026).

Every year Council reviews its fees and charges. Fees and charges are used to support the operation and maintenance of a variety of services provided to the community. They are set on a user-pays basis so that the costs passed onto ratepayers are kept to a minimum where possible.

The key changes suggested in the proposed fees and charges:

• General increase: Most fees not set by statute are proposed to increase by 2.2 percent to account for current inflation, in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
• Dog fees: The permit fee for keeping more than two dogs in a residential area is proposed to increase from $84 to $180 (this is a one-off fee per property reflecting actual costs to permit). The non-working dogs annual registration fee paid by due date is proposed to increase from $76 to $78, and working dogs annual registration fee from $50 to $51, an increase of 2.2 percent (CPI).
• Temporary road closures: An increase has been proposed for temporary road closure fees for events from $621 to $1994; bond from $6,029 to $6000-$10,000 and an introduction of a fee for temporary road closure inspections of $897. Note that these fees may be reduced for charitable events.

You can read the full Fees and Charges Statement of Proposal highlighting the changes on the council website (available from the 7 April).

Feedback on proposed fees and charges for the coming year will open from 7 April for a month. New fees and charges will take effect from 1 July 2025. Some fees and charges are set by statute, such as the new MPI Domestic Food Business Levy*, and do not go through consultation.

*Starting 1 July 2025 and phased in over three years. Most domestic food businesses will be charged a Domestic Food Business Levy that Kaipara District Council will collect on the behalf of Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). Find out more about MPI’s new Food Safety Levy at Food Act 2014 fees, charges, and levies | NZ Government

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