Travellers in the Mackenzie will soon have to budget for toilet stops.
By Claire Taylor for Local Democracy Reporting
The Mackenzie District Council is rolling out a user-pays system at five public facilities under a district-wide toilet strategy.
The toilet charges were proposed at a council meeting on Tuesday, with the council’s public facilities, parks and places general manager Matthew Lanyon presenting a report to councillors.
This followed discussions at a workshop last week about high toilet maintenance costs, usage, and how tourist infrastructure disproportionately impacted ratepayers.
With the Tekapo Footbridge and Hamilton Drive facilities already operating as user-pays, Lanyon’s report said the district’s toilets had about 900,000 users a year, and generated $80,000 in annual revenue against operating costs of $800,000.
The report proposed introducing user-pays systems at public facilities on Fairlie’s Main Street, at Burkes Pass, Lakeside Drive in Tekapo, and Twizel’s main centre.
Lake Opuha, Edwards Stream, Pukaki Canal campsite, and Tekapo town centre facilities would remain free, although all except the latter are long-drops.
The report also proposed a user-pays pilot at the Lake Pukaki facilities, which sit on Meridian Energy land, and electronic donation technology for the district’s public facilities and freedom campgrounds, using QR codes.
Mayor Scott Aronsen supported the introduction of the additional toilet charges, and said councils across the country were looking at Mackenzie.
“I’m sticking my neck out on the line ... we need to show some leadership.
“This is history making stuff,” Aronsen said.
Councillor Phillipa Guerin questioned the method of charging for the toilets and said it needed to be suitable for the wide range of community members, including elderly and disabled.
“That due diligence is really important.”
Deputy mayor Rit Fisher said turnstile pay stations would be used, saying the introduction of charges was a “no brainer” due to the positive return on investment they would provide.
Fisher said further discussion, and a businesses study would be important going forward.
Councillors approved the report’s recommendations, including implementing the strategy and a user-pays system at the toilets, approving the electronic donation technology, the Pukaki pilot, and a recommendation to bring further information on the costs and details of the strategy.
Amendments to the recommendations included asking for progress updates from officials and post-implementation reviews on the user-pays system, and further discussion with Meridian Energy on the pay system at Pukaki.
Toilet user charges were introduced under the council’s 2025/26 Annual Plan, with a user-pays system installed at the Tekapo footbridge and Hamilton Dr facilities.
But last year, after the council ruled only non-urban facilities should have user-pays applied, the system was removed from the Tekapo footbridge facilities.
The payment system was then re-introduced to the footbridge facilities in April, with the council citing high annual maintenance costs.
Existing charges are set at $1.50 for electronic payment and $2 for coins, with rates for the newly proposed sites yet to be confirmed.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
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