Council listens to good dog owners

Auckland Council has listened to good dog owners who said that more work is needed on the proposed fee structure in order to match it with council’s upcoming policy work for dogs.

"Councillors believe that the fees should stay at the current level until the region-wide policy on dogs can be brought into effect," says Mayor Len Brown.
"The new council was caught between a rock and a hard place. The government arbitrarily cut dog fees to a lower level than most of the previous councils, and the incoming council has been required to set a new fee prior to passing a region-wide policy on dogs.

"We have tried to balance the cost to dog owners with the impact on rates and officers put forward proposals that tried to achieve that balance.

"I support the need to reward good dog owners and the proposed changes went some way to achieving that. However, I agree with councillors who say that more work is needed.

"Cr Casey’s amendment gives us the chance to match the dog licence fees with the upcoming review of the dog policy and I support that."



Notes for the editor:

The below table shows the current (2011/12) fee structure:

Description                                                                            Standard fee                  Late fee
No dog owner licence, entire dog                                            $104                             $128
Dog owner licence de-sexed dog                                            $47                                $70
Dog owner licence, entire dog                                                  $53                                $77
No dog owner licence, de-sexed dog                                      $75                                $98
Superannuitant with Community Services Card (3)              $47                                $47
Special Category dog                                                                  Nil                                   Nil
Working farm dog                                                                         $23                                 $23
Dangerous dog                                                                            150 per cent of "usual" fee