Island fee may triple
Council ponders visitor levy raise: $5 $15 TO
A lone councillor stood against his peers and voted against a draft policy to increase the Stewart Island visitor levy to $15.
At a meeting yesterday, councillors approved the draft version of the Stewart Island Levy bylaw and policy, which bumps the visitor levy from $5 to $15, and it will now go out for public consultation.
The proposal also includes changes to how the money is collected and distributed.
Councillor Bruce Ford said there were concerns from islanders about increasing the levy.
The increase had not been justified with any sort of numbers, he said.
There was also nothing to say how the council would spend the increased revenue on a continuing basis, he said.
Councillor Paul Duffy said the proposal had drawn publicity but added that the fact it was only a consultation had been overlooked. ‘‘It’s all about dialogue and consultation which is exactly what we’re setting out to do here.’’
Councillor Brian Dillon endorsed Duffy’s comments and added the process was going to take two years before there was an outcome.
Councillor Julie Keast said her concern was that the councillors needed to ensure they looked far enough into the future because the policy would not come up for review again for another six years.
The amount of people visiting the island had increased by at least 70 per cent since the levy first came into effect so the council needed to be careful that they were not just thinking the increase in visitor numbers would result in more money, Cr Keast said.
Southland District Mayor Gary Tong said it appeared to him that the main concern was the dollar figure and not the rest of the policy.
‘‘The angst that I’m feeling in the phone calls that I’ve had and a couple of emails is around the dollar figures, it’s not around the proposal to look at the structure of the levy.’’
Councillor John Douglas said he believed most of his peers subscribed to the principle of user pays. ‘‘I think what has caught people out here is the three-fold increase.’’
Council Community and Futures group manager Rex Capil said changing the levy was essentially a double consultation because any change to the levy would have to be consulted on during the annual plan process.
Cr Ford was the only councillor at the meeting to vote against the motion. Councillors Ebel Kremer and Nick Perham were not present.
The consultation period on the draft levy policy will run from October 4 to November 9.