Dog Registration Fee breakdown Number of registered dog

JayNee made this Official Information request to Waitaki District Council

The request was partially successful.

From: JayNee

Dear Waitaki District Council,

Can you please provide me the following information
1: How many registered dogs are in the waitaki district
2: A detailed dog registration fee breakdown of what the fee covers and provides for the registered dog
3: details on the education provided to owners dealing with dog related problems and the number of people who have received this education
4: details on how you promoted community safety as stated on your website as for what the fee covers
5: How much of the fee is spent on up keep and/or upgrading the dog park or facilities provided for the benefit of registered dogs
6: how many dogs you've actually re-homed and how many you've euthanased
7: total yearly cost for animal control dog related cost including officers salary vehicle maintenance etc and total monies received from registration fees late payment fees and fines showing loss and/or profit
9: information on any services or benefits you plan on providing for registered dogs

Yours faithfully,
J Ellery

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From: noreply@waitaki.govt.nz
Waitaki District Council

Please do not reply to this email

Thank you for emailing Waitaki District Council.

Our Customer Contact Team checks emails regularly during business hours (8.30am - 5pm Monday to Friday). We ensure requests are forwarded to the appropriate Council Officer or contractor for action.

If your enquiry is urgent please call our Customer Contact Team on 03 433 0300.

Regards

Customer Contact Team

Waitaki District Council

Web www.waitaki.govt.nz Office 20 Thames Street, Private Bag 50058, Oamaru 9444

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From: Vanessa Vidallon
Waitaki District Council

Good Morning,

We are treating your email as an Official Information Request, any
requests that take less than an hour to complete are FREE, however the
following charges apply for additional time and resources required to
complete your request:

• The first hour is free

•Any additional time is charged at $105.00 per hour

•The first twenty pages printed are free, fees of .20c per A4 page and
$5.00 per A1 page apply

Please note that it is rare that council charges for providing
information. However in some cases depending on the significance of a
request, charges maybe necessary. Our team is currently assessing your
request and will respond to you as soon as possible, we have a maximum of
20 working days to respond however we always endeavour to provide a prompt
response when possible.

Further information via the Ombudsman’s office which explains how Requests
for Information are dealt with: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz

Kind Regards

Vanessa Vidallon Waitaki District
Information Management Officer Council [2]Facebook
20 Thames Street [1]Waitaki
Email: [email address] Private Bag 50058 District  
Web: www.waitaki.govt.nz Oamaru Council
Tel: +64 3 433 0300 Waitaki District [3]Twitter
Otago 9444
New Zealand

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is prohibited. If you received this in error please contact the sender and
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References

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1. https://www.waitaki.govt.nz/
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Mark Hanna left an annotation ()

Waitaki District Council's advice regarding charging for requests for official information is inconsistent with official guidance.

It is not necessary to charge for requests that take more than an hour. The official charging guideline sets a rate of $38 per half hour of staff time, which is significantly less than the $105 per hour cost cited here by the council.

Also, not all activities associated with responding to OIA requests are chargeable. The Ombudsman's guidance document on charging for requests can be found here: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/syste...

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From: JayNee

Dear Vanessa Vidallon,

Can you please explain why you think i should pay for this information as you would clearly have all monies received accounted for and as registered dog owner should i not be entitled to know what my registration fee covers and benefits my dog? Do you use this request to pay for the information as a way to not answer it and try and deter one from following up on the request? We are the oamaru public who pay taxes rates dog fees you should be more willing to inform us where our money is going.
looking forward to receiving the breakdown as soon as possible
Yours sincerely,

JayNee

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From: Vanessa Vidallon
Waitaki District Council

Dear J Ellery,

 

I refer to your official information request dated 16 March 2018 for Dog
Registration fee breakdown.

 

We have accepted your request. However, given the amount of resource
required to process your request, we have decided to charge for making the
requested information available.

 

We estimate the maximum charge will be $210.00. This is with the exclusion
of the free first hour. Any unused component of the maximum charge will be
refunded to you.

 

This charge has been calculated as per our charging guidelines sent. This
covers the process of:

1.       Searching and retrieving information

2.       Collating

3.       Research (reading and reviewing)

4.       Editing (redacting confidential information- Privacy Act)

5.       Scanning/copying

6.       Reasonably required peer review for quality check of information
to be provided

 

Before we proceed further with your request, please confirm your agreement
to the charge and we will then send you an invoice for the information
requested.

 

Many thanks,

 

Vanessa Vidallon Waitaki District
Information Management Officer Council [2]Facebook
20 Thames Street [1]Waitaki
Email: [email address] Private Bag 50058 District  
Web: www.waitaki.govt.nz Oamaru Council
Tel: +64 3 433 0300 Waitaki District [3]Twitter
Otago 9444
New Zealand

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The information transmitted, including attachments, is intended only for
the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon
this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient
is prohibited. If you received this in error please contact the sender and
destroy any copies of this information.

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References

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2. https://www.facebook.com/WaitakiDistrict...
3. https://twitter.com/waitakidc

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BAW Russell left an annotation ()

As Mark Hanna suggests, this is inconsistent with the ombudsmans guidance. A complaint to the ombudsman would be a good next step and would help future requestor avoid this situation

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From: Vanessa Vidallon
Waitaki District Council

Hello J Ellery,

 

After further discussions, the decision on the cost charged for you LGOIMA
request has been re-considered and the following information is now
provided at no charge.

1: How many registered dogs are in the Waitaki district
5397, as of 05/09/2018

2: A detailed dog registration fee breakdown of what the fee covers and
provides for the registered dog
Dog fees cover the cost of the National Dog Database, cost of services
provided, running and maintenance of the dog pound, annual registration,
reviewing of bylaw and process to ensure they are in line with the dog
control act.

3: details on the education provided to owners dealing with dog related
problems and the number of people who have received this education
This is usually done verbally as complaints are investigated and given on
some occasions to the dog owner and also the caller. It is impossible to
give an exact number as this is not specifically recorded.

4: details on how you promoted community safety as stated on your website
as for what the fee covers
Within the last 12 months a campaign around safety for school children was
ran. This was as a result of some issues with dogs roaming around
schools. 

We promote the “Selected owner” status as a way of acknowledging and
rew​arding responsible dog owners. Selected owners has a community safety
benefit in having more dogs properly contained within a premise. In an
attempt to further educate dog owners, we initiated a formal warning
notification prior to issuing of some infringements.  This is aimed at
owners directing resources to improve conditions for a dog, rather than
face an immediate financial penalty.

5: How much of the fee is spent on up keep and/or upgrading the dog park
or facilities provided for the benefit of registered dogs
Our website has full details of areas to walk your dog, this is available
through the Waitaki District Council Website. Link
[1]http://www.waitaki.govt.nz/our-facilitie...

The Dog park is maintained by our parks and recreation department, on
occasions equipment has been provided for through fund raising/donations.

                                                                                                                                                                          
6: how many dogs you've actually re-homed and how many you've euthanised
For the year 2017-18, 18 dogs have been rehomed and 2 dogs were
euthanised.

7: total yearly cost for animal control dog related cost including
officers salary vehicle maintenance etc and total monies received from
registration fees late payment fees and fines showing loss and/or profit

Financial year                  Expenditure                     Revenue

2015/16                            $173,300                          
$172,400          -$900
2016/17                            $150,000                          
$168,300          +$18,300

During the 2018/19 year, an upgrade of the dog pound has been scheduled
(see below).

9: information on any services or benefits you plan on providing for
registered dogs
Plans have been drawn up and a project is ongoing around an upgrade to the
current dog pound. Also, improved access to the area is being considered
at the same time. We are also installing a monitored alarm system, with
CCTV and panic alarm functions.

Educational material is planned for rehoming dogs, dog registration and
the process around Dog classification hearing is being reviewed.
Campaigns are also being considered to;

–        improving signage, we have started a conversation with the
Department of Conservation around improved signage around awareness of the
risk of dogs to wildlife, especially around our beaches.

–        increase the number of owners as selected owners

–        increase the number of microchip numbers recorded

 

Thank you for your patience and have a great day!

 

Many Thanks,

Vanessa Vidallon Waitaki District
Information Management Officer Council [3]Facebook
20 Thames Street [2]Waitaki
Email: [email address] Private Bag 50058 District  
Web: www.waitaki.govt.nz Oamaru Council
Tel: +64 3 433 0300 Waitaki District [4]Twitter
Otago 9444
New Zealand

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The information transmitted, including attachments, is intended only for
the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon
this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient
is prohibited. If you received this in error please contact the sender and
destroy any copies of this information.

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From: Vanessa Vidallon
Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2018 12:55 PM
To: '[FOI #7462 email]'
<[FOI #7462 email]>
Subject: Official Information Request- Dog Registration fee breakdown

 

Dear J Ellery,

 

I refer to your official information request dated 16 March 2018 for Dog
Registration fee breakdown.

 

We have accepted your request. However, given the amount of resource
required to process your request, we have decided to charge for making the
requested information available.

 

We estimate the maximum charge will be $210.00. This is with the exclusion
of the free first hour. Any unused component of the maximum charge will be
refunded to you.

 

This charge has been calculated as per our charging guidelines sent. This
covers the process of:

1.       Searching and retrieving information

2.       Collating

3.       Research (reading and reviewing)

4.       Editing (redacting confidential information- Privacy Act)

5.       Scanning/copying

6.       Reasonably required peer review for quality check of information
to be provided

 

Before we proceed further with your request, please confirm your agreement
to the charge and we will then send you an invoice for the information
requested.

 

Many thanks,

 

Vanessa Vidallon Waitaki
Information Management Officer District
Council
Email: [5][email address] 20 Thames [8]Facebook
Web: [6]www.waitaki.govt.nz Street [7]Waitaki
Tel: +64 3 433 0300 Private Bag District  
50058 Council
Oamaru [9]Twitter
Waitaki
District
Otago 9444
New Zealand

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The information transmitted, including attachments, is intended only for
the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon
this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient
is prohibited. If you received this in error please contact the sender and
destroy any copies of this information.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

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2. https://www.waitaki.govt.nz/
3. https://www.facebook.com/WaitakiDistrict...
4. https://twitter.com/waitakidc
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://www.waitaki.govt.nz/
7. https://www.waitaki.govt.nz/
8. https://www.facebook.com/WaitakiDistrict...
9. https://twitter.com/waitakidc

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