Pools, zoo, cemetery entry fees may rise

A trip to Hamilton’s pools and zoo will cost more in future if Mayor Andrew King gets his way - and so will cemetery charges.

But King wants to cut local artists some slack by slashing commission fees at Arts Post.

The mayor recommends upping prices to collect more money for the city, but the proposal has to get past his city council colleagues in early December.

King has been flagging finance problems for months and recently said a rate rise of up to 16.5 per cent was needed to stop the city borrowing for day-to-day costs.

He has already proposed a $25 Hamilton Gardens entry charge, and councillors heard more of his fees and charges ideas at a briefing yesterday.

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Higher pool entry charges would pull in $120,000 for the city next financial year, council papers said.

The current adult entry charge is $6 and the proposal is to increase it to $7.50, general manager of community Lance Vervoort said.

But would the budget account for a possible drop in customers, councillor Paula Southgate asked.

‘‘By putting up an entry fee increase – because I know people are quite nervous at the swimming pool about that – how many fewer people would go swimming?’’ she said.

‘‘We’re trying to actually go the other way at the moment: build the use of the aquatic facility, make it even more successful so we can add value in the future through that revenue.’’

Staff will give their best estimates on the effect of an entry fee, Vervoort said, and will also benchmark it against other facilities.

Hamilton Zoo is also in line for an entry charge increase which could add $195,000 to the budget next year.

Adults currently pay $23 to enter the zoo but the proposed increase wasn’t discussed at the briefing.

Bringing in a two-keeper safety system had significantly increased zoo costs, Vervoort said.

Laying someone to rest may also get more expensive, as council papers said cemetery fee changes could generate $214,000 next financial year.

And the mayor recommends ArtsPost take a lower commission on works by Hamilton artists, meaning a $45,000 drop in the budget.

ArtsPost currently takes a 46 per cent commission when it sells work by local artists, King said after the briefing.

‘‘I’m saying if we really are supportive of local artists, I think a 25 per cent commission would be more realistic.’’

That would apply only to artists living within the Hamilton City boundaries and to work that wasn’t mass-produced, he said.

Not all the budgets are going up, though.

And council expects $161,000 less from the Land Information Memorandum (LIM) area next financial year.

Despite fast home sales, there has been a drop in demand for the property reports, councillors heard.

‘‘Agents are actually buying one LIM and having it available so people can make decisions on the spot,’’ general manager of city growth Kelvyn Eglinton said.

Other areas expected to earn less include parking, rent on a Caro Street building, and events division H3.

Growth and new builds in the city mean the mayor is budgeting for increases in planning and guidance, building control, and costs recovered from changes to the district plan.

‘‘Those three are reasonably obvious,’’ 10-year-plan financial adviser Stephen Halliwell said, ‘‘the city’s growing so we’re budgeting for more.

‘‘More consents, more revenue.’’

The mayor’s full budget proposal will be released later this week, in the agenda for a December 6 council meeting.

That meeting is the first chance for councillors to formally debate what King has suggested.