Under the Local Government Act 2002 local authorities must adopt funding and financial policies to provide predictability and certainty about sources and levels of funding. Local authority funding of resource consent processing is predominantly derived from fees and charges to the applicant. Some local authorities may subsidise their fees and costs using other income streams (e.g. rates).
Section 36 of the Resource Management Act allows a local authority to charge for resource consent processing (including receiving and granting resource consents). Such charges must be fixed in accordance with the Local Government Act 2002.
Charges to applicants for resource consent processing
Local authorities were asked to provide information on minimum, median and maximum charges to resource consent applicants.
Data limitations
The data reported in relation to charges should be treated carefully as there are a number of limitations associated with its use. These limitations are brought about because:
- some local authorities estimated the median
- some local authorities provided standard charges rather than the actual amounts that were paid by applicants
- not all councils could provide minimum, median and maximum charges.
Combined regional council and unitary authority charges to applicants
For the 2003/2004 survey there was a low response to the cost questions from unitary authorities. Therefore unitary authorities have been added to regional councils for cost analysis, even through it is recognised that unitary authorities have functions of both district and regional councils which will see their median, maximum and minimum charges differ. See Table 13.
As regional councils do not process subdivision consents, and there were was a low response rate from unitary authorities on costs, there was insufficient data to provide information on subdivision consents in Table 13.
Regional council and unitary authority charges to applicants
The average median charge of regional council and unitary authority notified consents for coastal permits ($8,841) is higher than that of notified discharge permits ($5,116), water ($3,567) or land use ($3,198). Notified coastal permits have the highest average maximum charge ($23,265) compared to all consent types listed in Table 13.
The average median charges for non-notified consents issued by regional councils and unitary authorities range from $350-$598. The average maximum charge for a non-notified consent was highest for discharge permits ($6,119) and lowest for a non-notified coastal permit ($3,915).
Territorial authority charges to applicants
The average maximum charge for territorial authority notified consents was higher for land use consents ($15,220) compared to subdivision consents ($9,461). The average median charge for territorial local authorities was highest for notified land use consents ($6,047).
Tables 13 and 14 illustrate the averages of the minimum, maximum and median charges to applicants for each type of resource consent processed. They also present the number of local authorities who responded to each question.
Table 13: Regional council and unitary authority: average charges to applicants for resource consent processing
| Consent type | Average minimum charge ($) | Average maximum charge ($) | Average median ($) | Number of councils | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land use | Notified | 1,298 | 16,872 | 3,198 | 11 |
| Limited | 1,251 | 1,599 | 1,414 | 7 | |
| Non-notified | 124 | 4,146 | 350 | 14 | |
| Water | Notified | 752 | 11,722 | 3,567 | 13 |
| Limited | 1,691 | 2,323 | 2,126 | 8 | |
| Non-notified | 106 | 5,979 | 577 | 13 | |
| Coastal | Notified | 5,160 | 23,265 | 8,841 | 12 |
| Limited | Insufficient data to analyse | ||||
| Non-notified | 161 | 3,915 | 383 | 14 | |
| Discharge | Notified | 1,106 | 12,641 | 5,116 | 13 |
| Limited | 1,109 | 2,553 | 1,653 | 10 | |
| Non-notified | 103 | 6,119 | 598 | 14 | |
Source: RMA survey of local authorities 2003/2004.
Table 14: Territorial authorities: average charges to applicants for resource consent processing
| Consent type | Average minimum charge ($) | Average maximum charge ($) | Average median ($) | Number of councils | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subdivision | Notified | 2,974 | 9,461 | 4,080 | 45 |
| Limited | 1,697 | 2,596 | 2,326 | 28 | |
| Non-notified | 297 | 5,242 | 681 | 60 | |
| Land use | Notified | 1,981 | 15,220 | 6,047 | 55 |
| Limited | 1,325 | 3,850 | 1,896 | 43 | |
| Non-notified | 173 | 3,892 | 407 | 61 | |
Source: RMA survey of local authorities 2003/2004.
See more on...
Charges to Resource Consent Applicants
March 2005
© Ministry for the Environment