Council hikes dog rego fees

The cost of almost every service the Palmerston North City Council provides is going up, but generally not by as much as the total rates bill.

The council yesterday spent the best part of four hours going through more than a dozen types of activities it charges for, with dog registration and rubbish bags likely to be among the most unpopular price increases.

Council finance strategy manager Steve Paterson said the increases from July 1 would be about 7% across the board, which reflected the rising costs of providing services.

This was lower than the total rates increase of about 11.7% that the public would be consulted about.

Paterson said there was a balance to be struck, as many activities such as environmental health services included an element of public good as well as benefits to the person paying the charge.

Many of the activities therefore included an element of ratepayer subsidy.

Some councillors, including Karen Naylor and Brent Barrett, wanted a range of charges to be increased more than was recommended as a way of relieving pressure on ratepayers. “I don’t like putting anything up, but what I like less is putting rates up for services they don’t use,” Naylor said.

Paterson said that in general, the council could not properly use fees and charges to generate revenue above what was needed to cover costs.

Parking fees were a little different. They are going up from $1.70 to $2 an hour from July 1, similar to fees in surrounding cities, and this is expected to raise an additional $450,000 in revenue so long as it does not reduce demand.

Mayor Grant Smith said he understood the wish to reduce rates, but most of the council’s fees and charges were already at the high end of the scale compared with neighbouring councils.

Dog registration was a case in point. The new fee from July 1 will be $176, up from $165 – or $99 for preferred owners, up from $92.

This would cover less than 80% of the costs of animal control. Registration would have to go up 30% to $214 and $120 respectively to achieve full cost recovery.

Naylor and Councillor William Wood were keen on an increase of something in between, but this failed to gain support.

Councillor Lorna Johnson said it was unfair to load all of the costs of animal control and running a shelter, which was required by law to be compliant with welfare codes, on to responsible dog owners.

She said there was a significant element of public good in animal control. Without it, there could be dogs left to roam the streets, which would be dangerous and unhealthy.

Councillor Lew Findlay said it was the irresponsible dog owners who should pay more. “Why should responsible dog owners be penalised for sloppy dog owners who can’t be bothered?”

There was little dissent about putting the rubbish bag prices up from $2.75 to $3.60 each to cover the full costs of kerbside collection and rubbish disposal.

Johnson said the council had run a trial of providing free bags to low-income households to see if this would reduce contamination in the recycling, and it had not.

There was a concern that more expensive bags might lead to more fly tipping, but there was no evidence that this had happened the last time the price went up.