Fewer people are wanting to build new houses in the Queenstown Lakes district but the cost of doing so is about to increase, ironically, for that very reason.
Resource consent and building applications are expected to take a "significant dip" in the 2009-10 years, with the resulting drop in revenue forcing the council-owned Lakes Environmental to cut staff numbers and trim costs.
QLDC regulatory and corporate general manager Roger Taylor said in a press release yesterday that because Lakes Environmental operated on a user-pays basis, with a targeted break-even financial objective, the 17% drop in resource consents (down to about 1000) and 14% drop in building consents (about 1200) had forced a review of its pricing structure.
In a lengthy report to be tabled at today's QLDC meeting, Lakes Environmental is proposing an increase in charge-out rates, ranging from 1% ($119 an hour for engineering) to 29% ($85 an hour for health).
Similarly, deposit charges for consents, which have not been reviewed for eight years, are also likely to rise.
"Comparatively, taking into account both neighbouring councils and those processing similar volumes of consents, the new pricing structure remains on the low side," Mr Taylor said.
The council report also notes the reduced demand means fewer personnel are likely to be required.
Lakes Environmental already had a sinking-lid policy in place and some staff had been transferred from resource consent processing to compliance, where demand has increased.
If the new pricing structures are adopted by the council meeting today, they will be notified on Thursday, with public submissions open until May 29.
Those submissions will then be heard in conjunction with the 10-year-plan submission hearings in June.
