A Ministry of Justice proposal to run the Queenstown and Masterton court collections offices from nearby cities could endanger the safety of bailiffs, according to the Public Service Association (PSA).
"We're concerned about the impact on smaller communities that will lose local services and knowledge. That includes knowledge of dangerous locations and individuals, which could expose travelling bailiffs to more risks," PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said.
The PSA represents about 50 bailiffs.
Under the proposal, the Queenstown and Masterton district courts' collections units would be centralised to the Invercargill District Court and Lower Hutt District Court respectively, ministry general manager of collections Bryre Patchell said.
"The proposal put to staff does not suggest closure of any collections offices but does propose that we do not have a permanent presence in two current sites.
Collections services will continue to be provided in all areas of New Zealand.
"The public will still be able to turn up at their local court and do what they can now. All services, whether it be paying fines, accessing information, enforcing overdue fines, enforcing civil debts or serving court documents, will continue to be provided," Mr Patchell said.
Queenstown's collections office has a full-time bailiff, full-time team leader, a full-time registry officer and a part-time registry officer.
The Queenstown bailiff position was vacant for a year until June, during which time bailiffs came up from Invercargill.
Mr Wagstaff said the proposal would make services inefficient "as bailiffs will have to travel long distances from centralised hubs.
Urgent documents may not be delivered promptly and that brings a risk to business.
Some staff could face redundancy if their roles are relocated and the ministry can't offer them a suitable alternative role locally."
In terms of possible redundancies, Mr Patchell said the proposal had implications for some staff.
He would not comment further.
"We want the ministry to reconsider and keep bailiff positions in regional locations," Mr Wagstaff said.
Mr Patchell said bailiff numbers would not be cut; instead the ministry wanted to relocate some bailiff positions to Auckland, "where most of the population resides".
While he agreed the proposal could lead to a more efficient use of bailiff resources in Greater Auckland, Mr Wagstaff said the loss to smaller communities, like the Queenstown Lakes district and the Wairarapa, was "too large".
The ministry's 18 collection units and nine sub-offices collected $250 million in fines last year, and were on track to exceed that figure in 2010.
Mr Patchell said the service also played an important role in getting reparation payments to crime victims.
