Sign attracts fee

Mackenzie Mayor Claire Barlow unveils the Twizel Area School Sadd group's sign in November last...
Mackenzie Mayor Claire Barlow unveils the Twizel Area School Sadd group's sign in November last year. It urges people to drive safely. Photo supplied.
A roadside billboard against drunk driving put up by Twizel Area School pupils has been charged a resource consent fee by the Mackenzie District Council, but they hope it will be written off by grants.

The sign warning motorists against driving after drinking was a project by the Twizel Area School's Students Against Driving Drunk (Sadd) organisation in November, to get the message to visitors and locals to stay safe on the roads.

However, Sadd then received a $487.50 invoice from the council, which included $332.50 for planning staff time and $155 resource consent application fee.

The organisation did not know it would need resource consent for the roadside sign until late in the project and, after the invoice was received, asked the Twizel Community Board for a grant to cover the cost.

That was declined in January, but the council has referred it to the board for further consideration. Councillors indicated support for a grant split equally between the board and council.

Supporting the new application, which will be considered again on Tuesday by the community board, teacher Michele O'Carroll said it was only halfway through the project Sadd was made aware of resource consent requirements.

''All previous correspondence with the council had not indicated there would be a fee and it came as a bit of a surprise,'' she said.

The council advised her to go ahead and apply for a grant when the invoice came in, which Sadd did in December.

Now it had reapplied.

''I believe this application is worth supporting and the billboard is beneficial to the whole community. If one person changes their mind about driving after drinking, then it has done its job and is well worth the money,'' she said.

- david.bruce@odt.co.nz

 

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