We’ve updated our guidance on setting and administering fees and levies for cost recovery. This guide will be useful for any public organisation that has legal authority to charge a fee or levy for the goods
or services that it provides. It is an update on the guide we published in 2008, and has been expanded to cover some
levies as well as fees.
It also updates the principles that public organisations should consider when making any decisions on setting and
administering fees and levies: equity, efficiency, justifiability, and transparency. These principles apply equally to
fees and levies. We have updated them to recognise changes in public expectations, particularly around transparency and
engagement. Whether you are setting a new charge or reviewing an existing one, these principles should guide your
decision-making.
This guide also sets out the matters that we expect public organisations to consider when calculating the costs of
producing goods or providing services and setting charges to recover those costs.
Our guidance complements the guides produced by the Treasury and Taituarā – Local Government Professionals Aotearoa.
Those guides provide further support and information, particularly on the policy processes that precede any decision on
whether to charge for producing a good or providing a service and the amount of that charge.
A two-page summary and epub are also available for this good practice guide.We’ve also recently updated our guidance on managing conflicts of interest and controlling sensitive expenditure.
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