Proposed pool registration fees canned

Proposed pool registration fees have been canned. Photo / file

Tauranga City Council has scrapped a proposed pool registration fee.

The $134.20 fee would have applied to the owners of more than 2600 pools across the city.

Yesterday councillors voted to scrap the fee.

The one-off fee was proposed in response to a central-Government law change called the Building (Pools Amendment) Act 2016, which places greater responsibility on local councils for ensuring safety around pools.

The council said in a statement this morning it had intended for the charge to pay for an investigation to find unknown pools, to transfer information into a new electronic register for pools, and to ensure that the register would be compatible with all current and future electronic systems.

Funding will be sourced from elsewhere to ensure that these still occur, the council said.