Rotorua Lakes Council proposes to double parking fees from $1 to $2 an hour and have 200 more paid parks.

The change is proposed in Rotorua Lakes Council’s draft Annual Plan, which was shaped by financial challenges. It aimed to limit the average rates rise to 7.2 per cent by cutting spending and increasing fees.

The consultation document said the council proposed to increase fees and charges across all services in line with inflation.

Included in this was doubling the hourly parking fee from $1 to $2 and seeking fee consistency across all zones. This increase could result in $740,000 extra coming into the council coffers.

It would also increase the paid parking area in the CBD by another 200 parks, for about an extra $190,000 in revenue a year.

At the moment there are 1866 free parks and 1134 paid.

It was also proposed admission fees for the Rotorua Aquatic Centre would rise by $1 for an adult to $6.50, and by 50 cents for a child to $3.50. These proposed fees could result in a reduction of $225,000 in the rates funding that subsidised pool costs.

Approached in the Rotorua CBD for reaction to the changes, Ngāpuna resident Mata Mihinui, 72, said she did not believe an increased aquatic centre fee would impact people much.

Ngāpuna resident Mata Mihinui. Photo / Laura Smith

“I think they [the council] have to look at every way to make more money.”

Tikitere resident Stuart George, 65, said the proposals did not sound unreasonable.

“Got to fund the council somehow.”

Other changes in the draft Annual Plan included removing the $45,000 capped value for the total processing cost of consents to enable the council to recover the full amount of processing costs from applicants.

The consultation document said there was a “growing number” of complicated consents costing more than the current cap.

Nearly $230 million worth of building consents were issued in Rotorua last year, with 983 residential consents valued at $158,407,942 and 103 commercial consents valued at $71,105,500 between January and November 2022.

It was proposed to increase planning and building fees by 7 per cent, released minutes from a confidential meeting detailed.

It also proposed to change to a stepped refund approach on consents that took longer than 20 days to process. It presently refunded 40 per cent if this happened.

The proposal would mean, under the Resource Management Act, an amount would be refunded each day after the 20 days.

“The requirements for large-scale consents are increasingly more complex and more than 20 days may be required to process these,” the consultation document said.

“This will mean more of the cost of complex consents is carried by the consent applicant, rather than the general ratepayer.”

Consultation on the draft plan will end on May 12. Details and how to submit can be found on the council website.

*Mihinui is a contributor to the Rotorua Weekender’s bilingual section.

- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air