Submission Details

Fees and Charges

Do you agree with the proposed Fees and Charges for 2024/25?

No, I disagree - please explain?

Do you have any comments on this?

I oppose MPD Council's proposal to increase the fees and charges with reference to the SwimZone pool facility at the Te Aroha domain. The families of our community and surrounding districts are again the target of revenue collecting at a time when personal finances are incredibly tight, resulting in the opportunity to use a facility in our own community out of reach of many of our residents. My business Life's Jacket Swim, LTS (Learn to Swim) will be directly affected by this proposal with my operating costs increasing by 54% as the lane hire fee is proposed to increase from $13 to $20 per hour. Individual swim entry for children, under 16 yrs, will increase by 25%; adults, over 16yrs, by 14.2% and seniors, 65yrs and over, by 16%. I would ask you what is your 'Why?', what is your long term goal - end game? Do you expect a pool facility to run at a profit? I understand you have a balance sheet however a council cannot consider that without looking at the major contributing factor in this instance - people/families. Drowning is the third leading cause of death in New Zealand from unintentional injury of children from age 0 - 14 yrs. In New Zealand every year, on average, 8 children die from drowning (Water Safety NZ). We average 91 deaths by drowning each year in New Zealand. LTS is not only for children. I have several adult swimmers who are having lessons too as they wish to be competent in and around water so they can swim recreationally with their children. We are islanders - our land is surrounded by sea - we need our families to have access to facilities and swim lessons that are affordable. My LTS business is not profit driven. I do not have the capacity to absorb any increase in my operating expenses to offset the increase for my families that is also being suggested with the increase for children to enter the facility to swim. This is a 'double dip'. I would like to believe it is of greater value to have in increase in the number of patrons to a facility, increasing revenue that way, than trying to extract more revenue from the existing patrons and so running the risk of reducing the number of patrons who can afford the increased cost of entry. Many of my swimmers return to the domain pool for recreational swimming to practice what they have learned and families bring visiting grandparents/relatives to swim with them at 'their' pool. That's a win in itself. I suggest this is such an important area of our community family and community facility that it deserves/requires a forum/discussion time of its own - actually identifying the groups of our community that this (increase in fees) proposal affects. The representation from those groups would allow the opportunity for discussion so we can ensure fees, services and programmes within this facility are identified, and in turn identify what is valuable and to whom. I look forward to this opportunity. Our residents deserve to be able to afford to use the facilities that are in their community, built for the community.

Back to submission listing