🏠Tab 1 - Fees and Charges
Fees and Charges Schedule 2026-27
Each year, we review our Schedule of Fees and Charges to ensure they remain fair and reflective of the costs involved. We want your feedback on these proposed changes.
What are fees and charges?
Council applies fees and charges for specific services, activities and functions such as dog registration, liquor licences, interment fees, or resource consent applications.
These fees help cover the costs associated with these services including the costs of owning or maintaining facilities, staff processing time, or specific costs like national levies or laboratory fees.
Legislation only allows us to charge for ‘actual and reasonable costs’, for example staff time and other costs. Council doesn’t make a profit from fees and charges.
What’s changing?
Smaller changes
Each year we review our fees and charges to make sure the current settings:
- Reflect the impacts of inflation on activity costs.
- Reflect any changes in how a service is provided (for example changes in national legislation that require us to do new things or do things differently).
- Cover any new services or amenities.
Most fees are set to increase by around two and a half percent to account for current inflation in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Examples of this include the application fee for a Class 4 Gambling venue, set to increase from $950 last year to $970 for the 2026/27 year, the Sewer Connection Fee (processing only) goes from $360 to $370 or the interment fee at the cemetery is proposed to change from $915 to $940.
Bigger changes
The biggest change in the Fees and Charges schedule for 2026/27 are the proposed changes to water-use charges.
These changes are likely to have a greater impact for those on council water supplies. Under the draft Fees and Charges Schedule, these properties will see a 84% increase in the volume charges for their water use.
You can read more about why we have made these changes and the likely increases in costs for households on the 'proposed changes to water use charges' tab, at the top of this page.
Once adopted, changes would take effect from 1 July 2026.
Proposed Fees and Charges schedule
Read the full draft 2026/27 Fees and Charges schedule here
Most of the proposed changes to fees and charges reflect the impact of new budgets in the Long Term Plan and/or inflation. However, there are larger changes proposed to the water volume charges for those on council water supplies.
You can read the entire proposed Fees and Charges Schedule here or pick up a physical copy from our main office at 108 Saint John Street.
💧Tab 2 - Proposed changes to water use charges
Proposed changes to water use charges
The draft Fees and Charges schedule proposes an 84% increase in water use charges for the 2026/27 year.
Previously, part of the cost of providing water services in the district was covered by the General Rate paid by all ratepayers. Under this new charging schedule, the General Rate component will be lower and the fees and charges for those on council water schemes will be higher.
The specific charges for the different locations and water use start at page 21 of the document.
What is the reason for these changes?
There are significant conversations happening all around New Zealand about local government three water services. You may remember, last year council asked about the community’s preferred approach to water services provision in Ōpōtiki.
In line with that feedback from the community, council committed to keeping water services in house while carefully looking into all the other options to make sure that was the best and most efficient outcome for the community in the long term.
To keep water services in house, we must meet national requirements and rules under the legislation. This means that we must create an ‘internal business unit’ inside council that provides water services, and the costs and income associated with that are ‘ring fenced’ and kept separate to other council business.
Until now, some of the cost of providing drinking water to people on council supplies has been paid for through General Rates and the majority has been paid for through fees and charges on water use (the twice-yearly water invoices based on your water meter readings).
As a step towards an internal business unit, we must separate these two income sources and ensure that those on council-controlled water schemes cover the costs of those water services and that this isn’t shared across all ratepayers. We will refine this over time, but the proposed Fees and Charges in this schedule reflect the first steps towards this distinction.
There are three council-run water supply schemes – Ōpōtiki town (including Hukutaia and Waiotahe Drifts / Dunes), Ōhiwa and Te Kaha. These three schemes cover around half of all water supplies in the Ōpōtiki District.
Under the draft Fees and Charges Schedule, these properties would see a 84% increase in the volume charges for their water use.
An example:
For a four-person household on the Ōpōtiki water supply that uses around 30 cubic meters (30,000 litres) of water a month, the volume charges in most recent six-monthly water bill would have been $158.40 (that is 180m3 at $0.88 per m3).
But the new charges would be $1.62 per cubic metre, making their six-monthly water bill $291.60.
At the same time, the component of their General Rate that goes towards water services will be slightly lower because this cost will no longer be spread across the general rates on all properties in the District. It is closer to a ‘user pays’ approach.
These properties do not pay volume charges for council water supplies and this will not change. However, the component of their General Rates that goes towards water services will be slightly lower because this cost will no longer be spread across the general rates on all properties in the District.
This is a good time to check other obligations from Taumata Arowai for household and small community water supplies.
🗣️Tab 3 - Have Your Say | Kōrero Mai
Have your say
We’re keen to hear your feedback on the proposed Fees and Charges Schedule.
Alternatively, you can collect physical copies of the draft Schedule and feedback form from our main office at 108 Saint John Street, Ōpōtiki. These can be returned to use by
- Sending it to Ōpōtiki District Council, PO Box 44, Ōpōtiki.
- Dropping a copy off to our main office front reception at 108 Saint John Street, Ōpōtiki.
- Emailing a copy to info@odc.govt.nz.
