Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) councillors will decide whether or not to approve fee increases for resource and building consents, waste services, and community facilities at tomorrow’s (Thursday June 29) council meeting. 

Councillors will consider the increases as part of the Annual Plan, and they will also choose whether or not to sign off on an average rates increase of 14.2 percent.

Read more: Proposed rates increase jumps again.

The council report on the Annual Plan says elected members “continue to hold concern for increasing fees in the current financial climate, however the alternative was an increase in rates”. 

Most submitters to the draft annual plan were either neutral or supportive of the fees changes, the report said.

If councillors approve the Annual Plan, most fees for planning and development, building and resource consents, and resource management engineering will increase by around five percent.

When it comes to waste services, a range of disposal fees will stay the same, some (like tyre disposal fees) will increase by around five percent, while the disposal fee per tonne will increase 13.7 percent. 

Sport and recreation fees have the biggest range of increases.

Commercial user groups’ swim lane charges were the subject of local opposition when the draft Annual Plan proposed an increase of 73.9 percent at the Wānaka Pool.

Read more: Swimmers face price hike

The Annual Plan now proposes an hourly commercial lane charge of $15 (up from $11.50) at the main Wānaka pool.

It says the commercial fee for a lane of the learners’ pool is still subject to a 73.9 percent increase (up from $11.50 to $20), but on Thursday (June 29) QLDC confirmed this was a printing error and the price increase for the learners’ pool is instead the same as the hourly commercial lane charge.

“It’s great that we’ve been heard,” Peak Endurance swim coach Merryn Johnston told the Wānaka App this week. “Fifteen dollars is something we can work with.”

Other changes include a drop in the cost of a casual swim at the Wānaka Pool (down 5.1 percent from $8.50 to $8) and in the cost of a family membership, and increases in the cost of swim school lessons of between 9.1 percent and 16 percent.

The council report on the annual plan said 61 percent of submitters were neutral about sport and recreation fee increases, 18 percent were supportive, and 21 percent were opposed.

Increases to animal control fees were already approved in early June and are not being considered as part of the annual plan at Thursday’s (June 29) meeting.

PHOTO: Wānaka App