Whanganui council reports parking surplus of $523,000

Fourteen new parking meters were installed in the Whanganui CBD last year. Photo / Mike Tweed

Whanganui District Council had a boost from parking meter revenue in the last year, but infringements have dropped significantly.

Council chief executive David Langford said parking generated a surplus of around $523,000 in 2024/25, which reduced the amount the council needed to collect in rates.

“A significant share of rates goes into maintaining road surfaces and if you factor in the cost of maintaining the surfaces the carparks are on, parking revenue likely doesn’t quite cover the actual cost of providing and maintaining carparking,” he said.

“Research shows that paid parking is important to support local businesses because it ensures a healthy turnover of vehicles, making it easier for customers to find a park near where they want to go.”

A report from council regulatory and compliance operations manager Jason Shailer said the council received $371,000 more in meter revenue than budgeted for the 2024/25 financial year.

That was offset by a drop in infringement revenue of $245,000.

According to the report, revenue of $1,859,823 had been collected in 2024/25, against expenditure of $876,124.

A council spokesperson said $260,000 of overheads, $25,000 of interest allocated to parking, and $175,000 in loan repayments had to be added to the expenditure figure, leading to the surplus of around $523,000.

Fourteen new meters were installed at the end of July last year, on St Hill, Guyton, Rutland and Ridgway Sts.

The Government set new infringements from October 2024, with the penalty for not paying in a pay-by-plate area rising from $40 to $70.

Shailer told the council’s operations and performance committee that 9413 infringements were issued in the last financial year, down 1872.

“Less infringement is going out, and less infringement revenue is coming in, and that’s a good thing for our community.”

Last June, councillors voted unanimously to increase the hourly rate for parking in the city’s CBD.

A year later, they voted unanimously in favour of a motion from councillor Michael Law, instructing Langford to collect feedback and data on parking issues and present options to alleviate them.

At this week’s meeting, Law said parking had “gone from fair to greedy”.

“We have some good solutions, we’ve all raised them, but I think we’ve taken our foot off the gas. Maybe because it’s election year,” Law said.

He said the $70 fine was “obscene” and urged the council to think about free disabled parking.

“As someone said to me, ‘You, as a non-disabled person, can walk five minutes for free parking, I cannot’.

“I look forward to having that discussion in the next triennium, but can we make sure whoever is on council does it in the first month?”

Committee chairwoman Jenny Duncan said the public blamed the council for the price of parking infringements, “and we need to stop it”.

“We need to challenge the Government on why Whanganui has to charge $70.”

She said the council could not expect all the population to move to the ParkMate parking app.

“A lot of people don’t know how to use ParkMate, they don’t want to use ParkMate, they shouldn’t have to use ParkMate.

“Our disabled people have enough they’re dealing with, without having to add that to their bundle of activities and learning.”

Councillor Rob Vinsen said the new parking regime had been a success for ratepayers, “but maybe not a success for the user”.

He said he heard nothing but good reports about parking wardens.

“It’s always done with a smile, as best as they can.

“I know they get into very difficult, confrontational situations at times, but I think they handle it really well.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.