Tasman Debates Fairness Of Dog And Waste Fees

Friday, 30 May 2025, 7:41 pm
Article: Max Frethey - Local Democracy Reporter

Dog fees in Tasman are going up after almost two thirds of submitters opposed the increases, and ratepayers will pick up the bill for other people’s waste disposal.

Those are just two of many changes to the district council’s fees and charges for next financial year, most of which are increasing by 10%.

But on Tuesday, the Tasman District Council grappled with the principles of fairness when trying to determine how dog and waste disposal fees were split.

Elected members confirmed that its annual dog registration fees would jump by $25, bringing urban dogs up to $90 and rural dogs to $70 – increases of 38 and 56% respectively.

A new working dog fee of $50 will also be introduced.

The council went ahead with the hikes despite 39 of 64 submitters on the entire suite of fee changes specifically opposing the increases.

Increasing the fee would ensure that the cost of delivering dog services – including enforcement, responding to complaints, managing public safety, operating the animal shelter, rehoming dogs, and educating the public – met the council’s budget.

The closed dog services account has previously run at a deficit, which then impacts either council debt or rates.

Increasing the dog fees would also ensure the council continues its current approach that dog owners pay 95% of the costs of local dog services, in keeping with user pays principles.

But the scale of the increases concerned some elected members.

Mayor Tim King’s proposal to stage the increase over two years lapsed due to a lack of support, as did councillor Glen Daikee’s suggestion that SuperGold cardholders get reduced fees for urban dogs.

“Targeted relief for these residents would be worth it. 60% of people on a Super card over 65 are living on a fixed income essentially, and they don’t have the ability to absorb these things as easily as others,” Daikee said.

His proposal would have had to be processed as a rebate, which would come with additional administrative costs.

However, members were interested in transitioning to a different dog fee framework in the future with “much higher” base fees, but with rebates offered for responsible dog owners.

“At the moment there really isn’t a significant incentive or disincentive between a good dog owner and a bad dog owner,” King said.

Resource recovery centres across the district are also receiving less waste, which might be an otherwise positive result for the council if it didn’t complicate budget-setting.

Waste volumes have fallen by 28%, or 7500 tonnes, across Tasman over the last two years, with the Richmond centre bearing the brunt of the drop at 6000 tonnes.

The fall is attributed to a combination of a slower economy, waste minimisation initiatives, diversion to York Valley Landfill in Nelson, and increased illegal dumping.

Similar to dogs, the council has been seeking to recover most of its waste processing costs through those who use the service and drop off waste.

But many of the costs of running the resource recovery centres are static and don’t decrease as the amount of waste decreases, meaning that dumping costs need to go up as waste shrinks.

The council’s initial proposal was to increase the weight-based charge for mixed refuse by 28%, from $360.60 to $425.50 per tonne, to ensure that resource recovery was fully funded.

However, feedback from industry has indicated that jumps of that scale would increase the amount of waste being sent straight to the York Valley Landfill, reducing the council’s revenue.

Elected members agreed to increase the rate by a smaller 15%, to about $414.70 per tonne, to try and reduce the amount of waste diversion.

That choice still leaves a deficit for next financial year and will mean another 0.215% added onto rates – already proposed to go up 8.8% – to cover the shortfall.

Council staff suggested a lesser increase might reduce illegal dumping, thus providing a community-wide benefit, but some councillors were wary of using rates to subsidise waste disposal.

“It’s completely inconsistent with people taking personal responsibility … it sends all the wrong messages,” said Christeen Mackenzie.

The waste disposal charges will be reviewed in November 2025.

The new fees will be implemented on 1 July.

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