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1. Why is this change being made?

   The legislation that set up the new Auckland Council also set up Watercare as the provider of water and wastewater services across the region. The council is required under that legislation to change the way costs relating to growth are funded for these water services from 1 July 2011.

2. I have been assessed for contributions - do I still have to pay those, and who to?

   Contributions that have been assessed or invoiced must still be paid to the Auckland Council. This includes contributions that have been assessed or invoiced for water supply or wastewater infrastructure. This payment must be made in the way and within the time that was specified when the contribution was imposed. Auckland Council will pass any water supply or wastewater contributions that it receives on to Watercare.

3. Can I choose whether I pay contributions or the infrastructure growth charge?

   The legislation sets out the way that the transition happens. This is controlled by the date on which the consent is granted. There is no provision within the legislation for a customer to choose to pay either contributions or the infrastructure growth charge. This means that:

   • consents granted by the council on or before 30 June 2011 may attract development contributions or financial contributions for water supply and wastewater.
   • consents granted by the council on or after 1 July 2011 will not attract development contributions or financial contributions for water supply and wastewater.
4. How is the Infrastructure Growth Charge levied?

   The Infrastructure Growth Charge (IGC) is assessed on the basis of a standard unit of demand (related to a typical household unit). Under the IGC, a single standard unit of demand will apply across the region.

   As the IGC is charged when a connection is made, some existing vacant sites that may not have been subject to contributions will be subject to the IGC when they connect to the water or wastewater networks.

5. Does this change affect contributions for other activities?

   There is no change to contributions for other activities. Development contributions and financial contributions will continue to be levied to fund growth related expenditure on other activities such as the provision of public open spaces, stormwater, transport and community facilities.

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2012 contributions policy

A new integrated policy on development contributions and financial contributions will be put in place as part of the council's Long-term Plan 2012-22.

Consultation on the new policy has been undertaken in two main phases:

1. Pre-consultation - to discuss principles and policy concepts with stakeholders and interested parties during 2011 and early 2012.
2. Formal consultation - as part of the consultation on the draft Long-term Plan which commences from late February 2012.

We want to ensure that people who are interested in the way that contributions operate across the region have opportunities for input. We will be updating this page as the policy evolves and providing ways for comments to be made.

Governing body and Committee reports

The following formal reports provide an outline of the development contributions policy work. The minutes of these meetings should be viewed, to confirm the resolutions passed. These may be different from the recommendations in the reports.

Strategy and Finance committee

• Meeting 13 December 2010 - Item 10: Financial and related policies for 2011/2012 Annual Plan
• Meeting 7 September 2011 – Item 11: Development contributions policy for 2012 – Initial determinations required under the Local Government Act 2002
• Meeting 27 October 2011 – Item 11: Mayor's report on the proposed Long-term Plan 2012-22
• Meeting 30 November 2011 – Item 15: Draft contributions policy for the draft Long-term Plan 2012-2022

Pre-consultation information

The following items are part of our pre-consultation for the 2012 contributions policy. Note that these documents do not represent council policy.

• Summary from meetings (198kb PDF)
  
• Presentation for meetings (413kb PDF)

• Background information for meeting (181kb PDF)
• Presentation for meeting (328kb PDF)
• Summary from meeting (102kb PDF)

• Background information for meeting (557kb PDF)
• Presentation for meeting (1.09mb PDF)
• Summary from meeting (131kb PDF)

• Background information for meeting (198kb PDF)
• Presentation for meeting (807kb PDF)
• Summary from meeting (107kb PDF)

• Presentation for Developer Session 5 (3.8mb PDF)
• Invite to Developer Session 5 (39kb PDF)

Draft contributions policy 2012 and supporting information

The draft contributions policy 2012 is included within the draft Long-term Plan 2012-2022 (Volume Three: Financial information, policies and fees, p 178-211). Formal consultation commenced on 24 February 2012

As part of the consultation phases the council is committed to providing detailed information and seeking feedback from interested parties.

This section includes the latest version of the draft contributions policy 2012 and the detailed supporting information including the capital programme, the cost allocation model, the funding model and growth forecasts.

The documents may be subject to change prior to adoption of the final policy which will be no later than 30 June 2012.

Draft contributions policy in draft LTP (380kb)

Draft development contributions or financial contributions - growth data summary (33kb)

Development contributions Funding model for draft LTP (289kb)

Development contributions Cost Allocation Model (1.01mb)