Development contributions

2018 Policy - what you need to know

Subdivisions

If your consent has already been lodged;

The Local government act is very specific about development contributions

Part 8 section 198 of the LGA 2002;

(2A) For the purposes of subsection (2), a development contribution must be consistent with the content of the policy adopted under section 102(1) that was in force at the time that the application for a resource consent, building consent, or service connection was submitted, accompanied by all required information

If your subdivision was assessed under the 2015 Development Contributions Policy at the time of the 224c application you will be advised of the development contributions applicable. These will be the figures from the 2015 Development Contributions Policy that have had the PPI (producers price index – costs for construction) inflation adjustment applied.

If your consent has not yet been lodged;

Your application for a subdivision consent must be submitted, accompanied by all required information, so lodged (past the section 88 stage and accepted for processing) on or before the 30 June 2018 in order to be assessed under the current 2015 Development Contributions Policy.

If lodged (past the section 88 stage and accepted for processing) on or after the 1 July 2018 the reviewed 2018 Development Contributions Policy and its associated levies will apply.

Building Consents

If your consent application has already been lodged;

The Local government act is very specific about development contributions;

Part 8 section 198 of the LGA 2002;

(2A) For the purposes of subsection (2), a development contribution must be consistent with the content of the policy adopted under section 102(1) that was in force at the time that the application for a resource consent, building consent, or service connection was submitted, accompanied by all required information.

If your consent was assessed under the 2015 Development Contributions Policy then at the time of the CCC application you will be advised of the development contributions applicable. These will be the figures from the 2015 Development Contributions Policy that have had the PPI (producers price index – costs for construction) inflation adjustment applied.

If your consent has not yet been lodged;

Your application for a building consent must be submitted, accompanied by all required information.so lodged (when the full application has been received and it is accepted for processing) on or before the 30 June 2018 in order to be assessed under the current 2015 Development Contributions Policy.

If lodged (when the full application has been received and it is accepted for processing) on or after the 1 July 2018 the reviewed 2018 Development Contributions Policy and its associated levies will apply.

Service Connections

If your application for a service connection is in conjunction with a subdivision or building consent then the development contributions associated with that application are charged at the time of service connection.

If your application for service connection is not in conjunction with another application then it must be received and paid prior to the 1 July 2018 for the 2015 Development Contributions to apply.

What are development contributions?

The purpose of development contributions is to recover the costs of growth- related capital expenditures from participants in the property development process, rather than from general rates or any other indirect funding source.

Development contributions are set through the prescribed Local Government Act 2002 process, for developments for the provision of new or expanded council services.

How are they calculated?

The contributions are calculated on the anticipated demand that the development will impose on infrastructure, and the costs of providing that infrastructure. The amounts will vary from place to place as it depends on the catchment and the level of growth and infrastructure that is required to accommodate the development.

The Waikato district has been divided into a number of catchment areas. Each catchment area has a different range of projects which will require a development contribution to be paid and different rates are applied. For example a one lot subdivision in the Tamahere area will attract, among other contributions, a specific water contribution, while in Pokeno the infrastructure requirements and therefore the contribution, will be different.

Development contributions can also be charged for roads and transport, stormwater, wastewater and water, depending on the catchment area.

A calculation for extra water supply, wastewater, stormwater reticulation, parks, community facilities, and transportation is applied to each new lot and development. The total payable varies and is dependent upon location.

When do I pay?

Applications for resource consent, building consent or service connection trigger the requirement to pay development contributions. The due date for payment will be:

For subdivision resource consents: prior to issue of the section 224c certificate.
For other resource consents: prior to the commencement of consent.
For building consents: prior to Code Compliance Certificate.
For service connections: prior to connection.
For certificates of acceptance: prior to issue.

If you want to avoid annual increases, you can always make payment earlier than the due date.

What does council do with the contributions?

Contributions are used for providing new or expanded infrastructure. The contributions are not used for maintenance and are only used for the purpose for which they were taken. For example, a roading contribution will only be used for constructing new roads and intersection improvements.