Tasman’s dog owners are expected to get some respite from several years of registration fee hikes, with no change proposed for the next financial year.
That is in direct contrast to most other Tasman District Council fees, which are largely proposed to increase by 7% from 1 July.
It would continue to cost $90 to register dogs on properties smaller than one hectare, $70 for dogs on properties one hectare or larger, and $50 for working dogs.
The respective urban and rural labels for properties smaller and greater than a hectare are being dropped because it has caused confusion for residents, which will have no impact on how dogs were classified and what they subsequently cost to register.
Recent years have seen significant hikes in dog fees as Tasman District Council aimed to fully recover the cost of the council’s dog services, which has now been achieved for the immediate future.
The last time dog fees remained untouched was the shift from the 2022/23 to 2023/24 financial year, when urban dogs remained at $53 and rural at $32.
Since then, the cost of registering urban dogs has increased by almost 70% and rural dogs have jumped almost 119%.
A Kaiteriteri-based administrator for the 2400-member Tasman Bay Dog Owners Facebook group, Dee Jones, welcomed the proposal.
“This is great news, especially in the current economic climate. I think it’ll be a lot of relief.”
She says the scale of recent years’ hikes were “shocking” and further increases this year would have been “really tough” for many, especially retirees on fixed incomes.
“Having an unregistered dog is not something we encourage at all, but you can understand with a financial strain that that might suddenly become an only way out for some people,” Dee says.
“Dog owners are going to be happy about this. It’s great that TDC are able to take the foot off the gas a little bit and give us some breathing space.”
She adds that the council’s recent review of its dog control bylaw had been “a bit” divisive.
“So I think dog owners will really like to see that TDC is offering something favourable in the way of dog owners.”
Rates subsidise dog services by less than 5% and so dog registration fees almost entirely cover the cost of providing exercise areas, education programmes, signage, an animal shelter, patrols of public areas, as well as managing aggressive dogs and responding to complaints.
Other council fees that are primarily set based on staff time are proposed to increase 3.5%, while most other fees and charges are proposed to increase by 7%.
Fee increases lessen the impact on ratepayers by reducing the proportion of council services that are funded by general rates.
The council’s draft schedule of fees and charges is being consulted on until 3 May, alongside its draft annual plan.
