Visitors to Mackenzie will begin paying for a toilet stop from Waitangi weekend next year, after councillors approved the district-wide user-pays strategy.
By Claire Taylor for Local Democracy Reporting
Mackenzie District councillors agreed to adopt user-pays charges for 33 toilet facilities in the district by Waitangi weekend 2027 at Friday's council meeting, after the presentation of a report prepared by parks and recreation consultant Thrive Spaces and Places.
The report said installing payment systems would cost $165,000, with annual operating costs of $1.07 million, to be funded through a $2.5m grant from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and $507,873 from council funds.
The user-pays fees would be introduced at the Fairlie, Burkes Pass, Tekapo Tavern, Tekapo Footbridge, Tekapo Lakeside, Pukaki, and Twizel facilities, with charges already applied to Tekapo’s Hamilton Dr facilities.
New Zealand-owned technology firm Penny would supply the payment mechanisms, collecting 20% commission on revenue alongside a monthly site fee, the report said.
The Penny system would require users to register an account and pay a $1.50 fee per entry using an app, website, or digital key, allowing the council to monitor usage and transactions and adjust pricing and settings through a SiteWatch dashboard.
Thrive senior planner Samantha Strong, who prepared the report, told councillors Penny was “a really great tool” for the council and community.
“It’s a really great tool for future planning ... to understand who is entering your district, where they’re from, how much time they’re spending, how much money they’re spending,” Strong said.
She said New Zealand was “a bit behind” when it came to user-pay toilets, and infrastructure costs were falling on small population bases.
“Historically, Kiwis and tourists have been getting nature-based and tourism infrastructure for free, and unfortunately because we’ve got such a small population base … the weight of that infrastructure cost is falling on the ratepayer,” Strong said.
Toilet-use figures showed an estimated 1.35 million visits across seven of the district’s facilities between September 2025 and June 2026, with Strong saying the council was looking at revenue from $86,000 at a 50% user rate up to $667,000 at a 95% user rate.
“That’s a really great win for the district and … if we get all the way up to 95%, you’re looking at a $667,000 revenue which, in comparison to what your toilets cost, is a pretty good chunk of change.”
Council chief executive Angela Oosthuizen questioned the user-pay mechanisms, asking Strong how failures or issues with door locks would be managed.
Strong explained that Penny’s three-part locking mechanism locked the toilet from the outside rather than the inside when entered, allowing anyone to exit freely.
“They’re always able to exit the facility so that mitigates any people getting stuck within a toilet.”
Oosthuizen also questioned how older users would manage the system, saying she couldn’t see “elderly residents creating a Penny account and actually using it”.
The council’s operations and regulatory services manager Neil Jorgensen replied, saying user-pay systems worldwide faced the same challenge but that he would continue working on ways to engage older users.
Jorgensen added that older people are “actually more tech-savvy” than one might think.
With the user-pays aiming to shift the financial burden off ratepayers and onto tourists, the report included consideration of resident access for those registered under a local address.
Ratepayers and residents were not necessarily the same, and councillors would need to consider eligibility and verification rules before charges began, the report said.
Jorgensen said a report would be brought back in December recommending no charges for locals, noting that if toilet usage hit 50% of the 1.35 million estimated users, ratepayers would face no increases in rates.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
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