Annual Plan 2023/24

Adjusting user fees and charges

We use fees and charges when Council believes it’s fair to ask individual users to pay a bit extra. For example, we charge for the use of a public pool to help pay for some of the costs of running it. We call this the public/private split and it’s guided by our Revenue and Financing Policy.

When completing last year’s Annual Plan, we found some user fees and charges weren’t consistent with the policy, so we propose a few changes.

These changes will be to the Dog and Animal Control, Health Licencing and the Building and Resource Consenting activities. For our Dog Control services, we are proposing to increase the level of fees that we receive so that they will pay for 80-90% of the cost of providing this service. This is because most of the benefit is ‘private’ and this makes it consistent with our policy.

Draft Revenue and Financing Policy

Proposed Fees & Charges

We’d like your feedback about whether you support the proposed changes to the way fees and charges are shared.

Foxton Beach Freeholding Account

The Foxton Beach Freeholding Account (the Freeholding Account) was set up when councils amalgamated in 1989. Then, all assets and money specific to Foxton Freehold interests were pooled to spend for the benefit of the district, but this unique account was kept separate by the Local Government Commissioner specifically for the Foxton Beach community. The account is to manage money made from leasing and selling off endowment land. How this account is managed is set out in the Foxton Beach Freeholding Account Policy. This policy requires Council to have a minimum balance of $5 million cash in the account at all times. If all current planned projects for the year go ahead, the account will drop to $4.7 million. This is a breach of Council’s own policy. A breach of policy is not ideal, but this breach would not have any legislative consequences.

Council has committed to reviewing this policy in the near future.

Te Awahou Foxton Community Board manages the fund and would like to consult on the following proposal:

Funding $500,000 from the Foxton Beach Freeholding Account for the Foxton Pools Redevelopment Project

Foxton Pools is getting an upgrade, and construction commenced in February 2023. The improvements will allow the community year-round use of the pools, and will include a new inbuilt spa pool, reception area, ventilation systems and future proofing for further development. The contract was awarded to pool specialist Apollo Projects Limited, and work will be completed in early 2024. The upgrade was consulted on as part of the LTP 2021-2041.

Costs have increased since then. Increasing material costs, volatile supply chains, and a shortage of skilled workers contributed to rapid cost escalation across the construction sector. Council approved an additional $2,859,507 at the Council meeting on Wednesday 10 August 2022, bringing the total project budget to $5,803,781.

If Council were to approve the use of the Freeholding Account the balance would reduce to $4.2 million. This would be a further breach the policy. If the funding did not come from the Freeholding Account it would need to be loan funded.