FAQs

While rates are our main source of income, we receive around 19% of our revenue from fees and charges. These user-pays charges reduce reliance on rates and ensure fairness by charging users of specific services. Fees are charged to users of a specific service, such as science, environmental and consents monitoring.

The Fees and Charges Schedule is set each year and run from 1 July to 30 June. The period we are seeking your views on is for the July 2026 – June 2027 Fees and Charges Schedule.

Fees are set based on:

• Actual and reasonable costs of delivering services
• The Council’s Revenue and Financing Policy
• Ensuring fairness between ratepayers and direct users
• Legislative requirements (e.g., for regulatory services) as set by Central Government

The Council adjusts fees to reflect changes in costs to provide the service.

All consent holders are required to pay annual charges that cover the cost of administration and monitoring of their consents, research and management, and compliance related to their activities.

You can view or download the full current schedule of fees and charges from the webpage below.

Following consultation, submitters can present to a hearing and then deliberations will take place before the final Fees and Charges Schedule is adopted. Adoption has been scheduled for June and annual charges invoices will be sent from July based on the new Fees and Charges Schedule.