Parking wardens will disappear from Far North streets in three months - but councillors insist the end of formal enforcement doesn't mean a parking free-for-all.
In the Far North district, enforcement of parking and noise control bylaws is contracted out to a private security firm.
Those contracts, originally due to expire on June 30, have been rolled over until September 30.
But at this week's meeting, councillors decided to end formal parking enforcement in the district once the current contract ends.
That decision contrasts with the big cities, such as Wellington and Auckland, where enforcement is a major money spinner for councils.
Staff had prepared five options for councillors to consider:
Put the contract out to tender with the same schedule of when and where parking should be enforced.
Reduce the level of parking enforcement in places and times parking was not a problem.
Set up in-house parking enforcement, with an extension of the current contract to allow time to hire and train staff.
Remove all formal parking enforcement and issue tickets only as required for parking on yellow lines and pedestrian crossings, or abuse of disabled parking spaces.
Introduce meters or pay and display parking. That would boost revenue but the council would have to buy the meters and enforcement would still be needed.
The current contract would also need to be extended to allow time to investigate where the meters would go and who would monitor them.
Councillors voted for option four, the removal of formal enforcement.
Far North Mayor Wayne Brown said, however, that did not mean a parking free-for-all, because the $200,000 saved could be used to send out council staff to issue tickets and sort out problems as they arose.
The public should have zero tolerance of disability parking abuse, he said.
In his hometown of Mangonui, which under the current contract was visited by parking wardens once a week and only in summer, residents photographed and reported vehicles parking illegally in disabled paces or on yellow lines.
He asked council staff to report back in six months or earlier if problems developed.
The noise control contract will still go out to tender because councils are required by law under the Resource Management Act to provide a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour noise control service.
The council currently fields 1200-1500 noise complaints a year, most after hours and during weekends.
That contract cost the Far North District Council just over $100,000 in 2010-11.
Parking wardens sacked in North
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