Read pages 80–83 in our consultation document, Securing our future [PDF 8.41 MB], to learn more about our Fees, charges and policy updates.
Fees, charges and policy updates
The Council receives about 11 percent of its income from fees and charges. These cover everything from building consents to hall hire. The costs of providing services increase each year and as part of developing our plans, we review our fees and charges annually.
To reflect increased costs of providing services, we are proposing a general increase of 3.6 percent (in line with the Local Government Cost Index), with some other changes being proposed to our community facilities, recreation and leisure, regulatory services and infrastructure areas. The new fees would apply from 1 July 2021.
Examples of how this applies are:
- the cost of an adult swimming pool entry fee would change from $5.20 to $5.40
- dog registration would change from $97 to $100 for a neutered/speyed standard dog
- a building consent would change from $2,003 to $2,075 for a residential new building/alteration between $250,000 and $500,000
- consent for minor building work costing $5,000–$10,000 would change from $783 to $811
- a LIM request would change from $323 to $335.
There are some new fees and specific changes proposed to our user fees and charges, including;
- Housing for older persons
- Swimming pools
- Building consents
- Resource consents
- Laboratory services
See all proposed fees and charges [PDF 1.12 MB]
Levels of service
For this long-term plan, we are intending to maintain our levels of service to the community, such as swimming pool opening hours and frequency of roadside mowing, with only one specific change. As explained in our Major projects section (page 69), we propose to close the Waikanae green waste and recycling site from 1 August 2021. This would make levels of service for Waikanae residents similar to other parts of the district. The rates impact for year one of closing the facility is 0.2 percent. If we did not make this change, the average rates increase would be higher by 0.2 percent. Overall, we will be lifting our levels of service as we increase our resources for the bigger work programme we propose and respond to the recommendations of the organisation review.
Our policies
Policies make sure our work is consistent with the Local Government Act 2002 and supporting legislation, and our actions are clear and transparent for our communities. Our main policies cover: revenue and financing; rates remission; development contributions; and significance and engagement. We’ve reviewed these policies to make sure they’re still suitable, and are proposing some changes.
We review these policies at least once every three years and for this Long-term Plan we are proposing some changes to the following policies.
Revenue and financing
This policy describes how our spending – operating and capital – is funded (where the money comes from). For example, most of our capital expenditure (CAPEX), such as work on our stormwater network, is partly funded by borrowing. Operating expenditure (OPEX), for services such as our parks and libraries, is largely funded from rates income.
The main changes we are proposing to the policy are:
- Increasing the proportion of Council’s economic development costs to be funded from the commercial targeted rate, which reflects the level of benefits received by the commercial sector from the activity. This means an additional $225,000 (including GST) per annum will be funded through the rates income received from commercial ratepayers rather than from residential and rural ratepayers across the district.
- Updating the private (fees and user charges and other income) and public (rates) funding targets for all activities, to reflect changes in how our Council activities are structured. For example, we have created a new sustainability and resilience activity, which comprises solid waste, emergency management and environmental sustainability activities.
Read the Proposed Revenue and financing policy [PDF 1.28 MB]
Significance and engagement
Council is committed to engaging with our communities, and increasing community participation in our work. Our significance and engagement policy sets out how and when our communities can expect to be engaged in decisions about different issues, assets, or other matters, depending on their level of significance. It also helps ensure Council is informed at the beginning of a decision-making process about the extent of any public engagement expected before a particular decision is made, and the form and type
of engagement required.
We have recently reviewed our significance and engagement policy and propose some minor changes to make the policy more accessible and better reflect and clarify our engagement framework. These changes reflect the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) model, which is considered best practice here and overseas.
- Do you agree with our criteria for assessing significance?
- Do you agree with the thresholds we apply to help determine if a matter may be significant?
- Do you understand our framework for determining how and when we seek community feedback on key activities?
Read the Proposed Significance and engagement policy [PDF 902 KB]
Development contributions
The development contributions policy provides the Council with a means of recovering the costs of specific growth infrastructure that's required for new development, where the development results in an increase in demand on the district’s infrastructure.
The main changes we're proposing to the policy are:
- Adjustments to reflect forecast changes in household occupancy and size, based on latest Kāpiti Coast District population and dwelling projections, specifically to:
- increase the ‘household unit equivalent’ (HUE) calculation to 2.5 people per household (from 2.3)
- reduce the HUE slightly for retirement, visitor, supported living, and shared and group accommodation
- increase the size for non-residential units to 500m2 gross floor area (from 450m2).
- Updates to ensure the Council’s development contribution charges and catchment maps are based on the capital expenditure forecasts and assumptions in the draft 2021–41 Long-term Plan.
Read the Proposed Development contributions policy [PDF 4.46 MB]
Rates remission
Our rates remission policy sets out how Council provides assistance to people who face significant difficulty paying their rates.
The main changes we are proposing to the policy are:
- Increasing the income threshold to ensure that people who have rates bills greater than 5 percent of their income can still apply for a rates remission.
- Introducing a new remission policy for excess volumetric water rates charges resulting from a private water leak where the leak has been repaired.
- We also propose increasing the rates remission fund by $50,000 per year.
Read the Proposed Rates and remission policy [PDF 799 KB]