infonews.co.nz
INDEX
BUILDING

Council grapples with costs of Building Consent Authority accreditation

Friday 29 February 2008, 5:53PM

By Nelson City Council

732 views

NELSON

After much discussion Council’s Environment Committee has reluctantly accepted staff advice to increase the charges for building consents and Land Information Memorandums (LIM’s) and to consult with the public on a proposal to increase resource consent fees.

The new building consent and LIM charges will come into effect from 1 March 2008. Public consultation on the resource consent fees increases will start on 1 March 2008 also.

As part of their decision, the Committee also waived the building consent fee for the installation of domestic solar water heating and it has fixed the cost for certifying enclosed burners so they can be replaced with clean heating options.

Chair of the Environment Committee, Councillor Rachel Reese says “These were two initiatives that we know Nelson people feel strongly about and things we as a Council wish to encourage to help build a more sustainable city.”

However, working through the process for Building Consent Authority (BCA) accreditation has revealed that Council is under resourced and that most other current charges are not adequate to meet the percentage of the true cost of processing and monitoring consents under Council’s funding policy*.

Cr Reese says the Committee felt it had no option but to approve the price increases, although members were well aware that the addition to the cost of building will not be welcomed by those footing the bills. The alternative, however, was to pass an increasing proportion of building consent costs on to general rates.

“We must increase staff numbers in order to meet the statutory requirements set for us as a Building Consent Authority. We need to recruit highly skilled, expert staff so the cost has to be met. While the hourly rate we are charging staff out at is still set below that of the private sector, it is closer to meeting the required percentage of the overall cost under our current Funding Policy,” Cr Reese says.

Later in the year the Committee will review the full policy on fees and charges as part of the LTCCP process to ensure that it is fair and equitable and can be administered efficiently.

The Committee was reassured to hear the new charges are not ahead of Tasman and Marlborough District Councils that are working through the same accreditation process.

Cr Reese says “While no one is happy that prices have to go up, it is important to keep the big picture in mind. Staff have estimated the total cost of consents when building the average home is still less than 1% of the overall cost.”

Council’s Divisional Manager Planning and Consents Richard Johnson says the charges are just one aspect of the BCA accreditation process that Council is working through. “We are working hard to meet the requirements and deadlines handed down by central government and are on target to do so.”

* Under the terms of the current Council Funding Policy 55% of the business unit costs of resource consents, 65% of the business unit costs of building consents, 40% of the business unit costs of land and property information and 95% of private plan changes must be met by private users. The remainder of the costs are met from general rates.