Information relating to Council parking tickets financial information (Our ref. 899).
Request
Subject: LGOIMA Request: Comprehensive Parking Infringement Statistics, Revenue, Court Outcomes, and Enforcement Costs (2000–2025)
I am writing to make a request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA) for a detailed operational and financial analysis of parking enforcement activities.
I request this data be broken down by financial year (or calendar year, whichever is your standard reporting unit) from 2000 to 2025 (or from the earliest date compatible with your current digital record systems).
1. The "Funnel" of Infringements (Volume & Revenue)
Please provide a schedule/spreadsheet summarizing the lifecycle of parking infringement notices (PINs) issued by your organisation:
- Issued: Total number of tickets issued and the total face value ($) of these tickets.
- Paid: Total number of tickets paid (at any stage) and the total revenue ($) actually collected.
- Unpaid/Remitted to Court: Total number of tickets filed with the Ministry of Justice for enforcement due to non-payment.
2. The "Dispute" Statistics (Justice & Fairness)
To understand the robustness of the issuing process, please provide:
- Contested (Internal Review): The number of tickets where the recipient requested an internal review/explanation (wrote in to dispute the ticket).
- Withdrawn/Waived: The number of tickets that were withdrawn, cancelled, or waived by the Council following an internal review (i.e., the "success rate" of writing a letter).
- Escalated to Court (Defended Hearing): The number of tickets where the recipient formally requested a court hearing (Notice of Defence) to argue theliability.
3. Court Outcomes (The "Win/Loss" Record)
For those tickets that proceeded to a Defended Hearing in court:
- Council Successful: The number of cases where the Court ruled in favour of the Council (defendant ordered to pay).
- Defendant Successful: The number of cases where the Court dismissed the ticket (found in favour of the member of the public).
- Withdrawn at Court: The number of cases withdrawn by the Council after a court hearing was requested but before the Judge made a ruling (e.g., due to lack of evidence).
4. The "Cost of Business" (Enforcement Expenditure)
I request a breakdown of the direct costs associated with issuing and enforcing these tickets. If a per-ticket calculation is not available, please provide the annual budget line items for:
- Processing Costs: Total expenditure on ticket processing services (including payments to third-party vendors for software or administration).
- Postage & Service: Total expenditure on NZ Post or courier services for serving reminder notices.
- Legal & Court Costs: Total expenditure on filing fees (Ministry of Justice lodging fees) and legal disputes related to parking.
- Labor: The total annual salary and wage budget for the Parking Enforcement unit (Wardens and support staff).
5. Clarification on "Court Costs"
- Please confirm if the "Revenue Collected" figure in Part 1 includes Court Costs recovered from defendants, or if it strictly represents the infringement fee.
- Format I request this information be provided in a machine-readable spreadsheet format (.xlsx) to allow for analysis of trends over the 25-year period.
- If your digital records do not extend back to 2000 (e.g., due to the transition to the Auckland Super City or system migrations), please provide data from the earliest available reliable year and note the start date clearly.
Response
The LGOIMA enables people to request official information from local government agencies, including Mackenzie District Council However, the LGOIMA only applies to information that is already held by MDC. The information you are seeking in this case is not held by MDC.
The parking Bylaw was adopted in 2024, additionally an appointment for a parking warden pursuant to Section 128D of the Land transport Act was passed in November 2025, therefore there is no data available within your requested timeframe.
I am therefore refusing your request under section 17(g) of the LGOIMA, because Mackenzie District Council does not hold any official information for this request.