The council has collected $83,800 for illegal freedom camping since 2016 but is still owed $67,200 in unpaid fines.
A $200 fine is the standard amount for breaching the council's camping control bylaw.
Only 419, or 47%, of fines have been paid; 142 have been voided or exempted and 336 remained unpaid.
Council acting infrastructure and networks general manager Leanne Mash said the council made an effort to collect on every infringement notice it issued.
Most of the fines which remained unpaid had been issued to people who did not live in New Zealand, Ms Mash said.
The council had limited ability to collect from people living overseas, she said.
The number of paid infringements was expected to increase as people received reminder notices and warnings for fines issued in the past three months.
Other councils such as the Queenstown Lakes District Council had used other measures such as wheel clamping to enforce its bylaws, but there were no plans for other methods of enforcement in Dunedin, she said.
Camping in a restricted area in a non-self-contained vehicle was the most common infringement notice, with 477 fines issued since 2016.
Another 341 had been issued for failing to park in the designated area displayed at the site.
The number of infringement notices has fluctuated since the council's camping control bylaw was adopted in 2015.
There were 446 fines in 2016 but the number dropped to 233 last year.
Ms Mash said 2016 was the first year the bylaw was enforced. There was generally better compliance in 2017, which resulted in fewer fines.
But the rate of enforcement had started to climb again.
Because the council anticipated more freedom campers coming to Dunedin, more areas were actively patrolled, which led to the increase.
The council rarely fined the same vehicle twice, which showed issuing infringements had encouraged compliance, which was the ultimate goal, she said.
Related Stories
Comments
Queenstown has the right idea- clamp the offenders. My only suggestion is to increase the fine substantially to say $1,000 before a clamp is removed. Compliance would be in a jiffy. Couple of other points; firstly, most of the freedom campers I have met are from western Europe. Having lived in Europe for nearly two decades I can assure you, that the local police would have ZERO tolerance for freedom campers. They would be frog marched to the nearest ATM to pay their fine- but we are not Europe. But are they taking us (ratepayers) for a ride?
Secondly, has anyone done a cost/benefit on this type of tourist? Sure they might spend $100 per day per person. But how much of that spending stays in the Dunedin economy? For example, $50 of petrol sees approx. 90% of this amount sent out of Dunedin (taxes, franchise fees, refining costs etc). Also $50 spent at the supermarket (few products are made/grown locally) remains here. Yet the DCC is happy spending approx. $200k for freedom camping facilities. Just to ‘breakeven’ we need 20,000 freedom camper days. Did we really need to spend such amounts? I think encouraging them to use existing commercial campsites makes more sense.
really that is your argument. How much of your money spent in Dunedin stays in Dunedin, Your petrol money goes the same place as does your grocery money. Im an otago rate payer but I don't live in Dunedin but I pay rates for services there. I think people need to get off there high horse. I am a kiwi and a freedom camper. Why shouldn't I be, I have paid taxes (national) for 40 years, I don't choose to stay in camp grounds simply because why should I have to.
Boo Boo I think there are different categories of FC, Being a Kiwi and obviously of a mature generation, I'm sure you don't drop rubbish where you stay and are a tidy kiwi, I'd go as far to say I bet you don't curl one down in the streets or just off to the side of the road.
Can taking money from people really chastise offenders?
Clamping vehicles is morally repugnant and it shows a total disregard for the vulnerable situation of our guests. We are hosts to these people, they are guests in our country. If we continue to under-invest in infrastructure to support them and regularly engage in statistics defying witch hunts we'll end up like the Caribbean. An off the radar destination. Tourists spend 12.5 billion p.a. in NZ, with another 8 billion in trickle down. The GST alone that this puts into the govt coffers is in the billions. Central govt needs to cough up that money and provide it for regional infrastructure.
A guest has a responsibility to be a sociable, responsible guest. What vulnerable situation are you referring to? Morally repugnant? the 12.5 billion is almost not coming from the people discussed in this article.
These bludgers are disgusting. Why? They do not pay for their waste disposal or clean water. WE DO! Every civilised society pays for these basics, plus health and welfare for those who cannot, through ill health or disability. These guys are young, fit and healthy and should be contributing to society, not taking from it.