A rejig of dog fees in the Far North aims to reward owners who have their dogs neutered and registered, while owners of problem dogs will pay more.
Rather than just increasing the standard registration fee by the rate of inflation, councillors decided at their April meeting to adopt a range of charges for neutered, "complete" (non-neutered), working and menacing dogs.
Under the new system, which comes into force on July 1, registering an ordinary neutered dog will cost $45 a year or $55 for a non-neutered dog. The current fee is $43.
A working dog will cost $34 ($45 non-neutered) while any dog classified as menacing, due to incidents involving the dog rushing or threatening people, will pay $55 ($65 non-neutered). Disability dogs remain free, and any newly neutered dog is free for the first year - as long as proof of when the neutering took place can be shown.
Registering any dog after the September 1 deadline will incur a $20 penalty on top of the regular fee.