Basis of charges
The Buller District Council has adopted a user pays policy for all resource consent applications and functions that the Council carries out under the Resource Management Act 1991.
The purpose of the charges is to recover the actual and reasonable costs incurred by the Council.
In setting these charges, the Council has had regard to the criteria set down in Section 36 of the Resource Management Act (RMA).
Timing of payments
Most of the charges and amounts specified in this schedule (unless otherwise specified) are payable in advance of any action being undertaken by the Council. Pursuant to Section 36(7) of the RMA, the Council does not need to perform the action to which the charge relates until the charge has been paid in full.
Deposits
Deposits are initial charges payable at the time an application is submitted to Council for processing. Notwithstanding that a deposit may be paid, the Council will commence processing the application only when it is satisfied that the information received with the application is adequate.
Since resource consent applications can vary significantly in their content and nature, the Council cannot set a fixed charge that would be fair and reasonable in every case.
The deposit shown in the schedule is the minimum deposit for that particular application category. A deposit higher than the minimum could be required, and this would depend on the nature and scale of each specific application.
Final costs
When the processing of an application has been completed and a decision has been made, the Council will finalise the cost of processing the application.
a. Remission of charges: Pursuant to Section 36(5) of the RMA, the Council, at its discretion may remit the whole or any part of the charges listed.
b. Additional charges: Additional charges may be required under Section 36(3) of the RMA where the deposit is inadequate to cover costs, to enable Council to recover its actual and reasonable costs relating to any particular application.
c. Discount on the charges: Pursuant to Section 36AA of the RMA, the Council will give discounts on administrative charges to applicants whose resource consents have exceeded the prescribed timeframes where the responsibility for the failure rests solely with Council. The refund will be in accordance with the Resource Management (discount on administrative charges) Regulations 2010.
Policy
As a basis for additional costs under Section 36(3) of the RMA 1991, Council will assess such costs on the following basis:
- Staff costs will be charged out at their hourly charge out rates as determined by the Department Manager from time to time, in consultation with Finance.
- Vehicle mileage rates will be charged at $2.00 per kilometre plus GST for external charging. Travel for consultants will be charged at cost.
- Staff travel time for site visits will be capped at one hour, plus applicable mileage.
- Advertising, materials and laboratory costs will be charged at cost.
- Costs for Hearing Commissioners and their disbursements will be recovered at actual rates.
- Legal charges/peer reviews will be recovered at actual rates.
- Costs for contractors and consultants will be recovered at actual rates.
- An additional charge of 10% will also be applied to cover Council’s costs in relation to outsourced consent applications.
List of charges
A charge shall be made for each type of application or action listed. All charges unless otherwise specified in this table are a deposit and are inclusive of GST. All references are to the Resource Management Act 1991 and any subsequent amendments, unless specified otherwise.
- Application administration fee - $200.00
- Monitoring administration fee - $200.00
