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Resource Management Act 1991

Functions, powers, and duties of central and local government - Functions, powers, and duties of local authorities

36AAA: Criteria for fixing administrative charges

You could also call this:

“Rules for deciding how much local councils can charge people for their services”

When a local authority sets charges under section 36, they must follow certain rules. The only reason for these charges is to cover the reasonable costs the local authority faces for the activity related to the charge.

You should only have to pay a charge if you benefit more from the local authority’s actions than the whole community does, or if your actions cause the need for the local authority to act. If the charge is for monitoring the environment, you might have to pay if the monitoring is about how your activities affect the environment, or if you benefit more from the monitoring than the whole community does.

The local authority can set different charges for different costs they have when doing their jobs under this Act. They can have different charges for different areas or types of people who use their services. They can also charge less if something you do makes their job easier or cheaper.

When the local authority decides on these charges, they must think about all these rules to make sure the charges are fair.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7235341.

Topics:

Government and voting > Local councils

Money and consumer rights > Taxes

Environment and resources > Town planning

36: Administrative charges, or

“This law allows local councils to set fees for things like processing building permits, monitoring land use, and providing information about city plans.”

36AAB: Other matters relating to administrative charges, or

“This law explains how local councils can change, delay, or show fees for their services.”

Part 4 Functions, powers, and duties of central and local government
Functions, powers, and duties of local authorities

36AAACriteria for fixing administrative charges

When fixing charges under section 36, a local authority must have regard to the criteria set out in this section.
The sole purpose of a charge is to recover the reasonable costs incurred by the local authority in respect of the activity to which the charge relates.
A particular person or particular persons should be required to pay a charge only—
to the extent that the benefit of the local authority’s actions to which the charge relates is obtained by those persons as distinct from the community of the local authority as a whole; or
where the need for the local authority's actions to which the charge relates results from the actions of those persons; or
in a case where the charge is in respect of the local authority's monitoring functions under section 35(2)(a) (which relates to monitoring the state of the whole or part of the environment),—
1. to the extent that the monitoring relates to the likely effects on the environment of those persons' activities; or
2. to the extent that the likely benefit to those persons of the monitoring exceeds the likely benefit of the monitoring to the community of the local authority as a whole.

The local authority may fix different charges for different costs it incurs in the performance of its various functions, powers, and duties under this Act—
in relation to different areas or different classes of applicant, consent holder, requiring authority, or heritage protection authority; or
where any activity undertaken by the persons liable to pay any charge reduces the cost to the local authority of carrying out any of its functions, powers, and duties.

Notes

Section 36AAA: inserted, on 19 April 2017, by section 21 of the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 15).