Of the 15 councils with special aid dogs, such as guide dogs, registered in the South Island, three — Dunedin City Council, Central Otago District Council and Nelson City Council — charged a register fee for them. Blind Foundation guide dog mobility instructor Wendy Mellberg Haecker, of Dunedin, said the foundation trained about 100 guide dogs every year in Manukau in South Auckland.
The Auckland Council gave the new recruits free registration tags and continued doing so for the duration of the dog’s working life, she said.
Consequently, no matter where the guide dogs were deployed in New Zealand, the relevant council should waive the annual registration fee, she said.
Ms Mellberg Haecker was concerned some councils wanted to charge to register a guide dog. She believed the reason some fees remained in parts of New Zealand was "a lack of communication" between councils.
"It’s a clear misunderstanding between the councils throughout the nation."
There were 29 guide dogs in Otago and Southland including 13 in Dunedin, she said.
Every year, she went to the Dunedin City Council for the registration tags for the 13 dogs and did not pay the fee.
The Dunedin residents she gave the tags to included Pam Mahuika and her partner Jock Thurlow. Miss Mahuika said she had paid $5 to register her guide dogs when she lived in Nelson.
"It was wrong."
Mr Thurlow said when their guide dogs Demi and Noah retired, the couple would happily pay to register them as pets.
But any handler of a working guide dog should never have to pay a registration fee, no matter where they lived in New Zealand, he said.
South Island council registration policies
The Otago Daily Times called every council in the South Island asking how much it cost to register a guide dog. Of the 15 councils, four councils claimed to charge a fee.
Dunedin City Council: $20. Council compliance, animal and parking services team leader Peter Hanlin said the fee was reduced to $14 if the dog is neutered.
The money paid for the registration tag and administration costs.
The council was starting the process of reviewing all fees and charges for the upcoming long-term plan.
Dog registrations are due in Dunedin by the end of the month.
Central Otago District Council: $12. Council planning & environment executive manager Louise van der Voort said the fees collected paid for dog control and registration services, which are contracted out.
The council bylaw considered any ‘‘disability assist dog’’ to be a working dog.
Nelson City Council: $5. Council spokesman Paul Shattock said the "administration fee" covered the cost of the registration tag.
"If this charge wasn’t in place then the cost would need to be absorbed across other dog owners."
Waitaki District Council: When contacted, said the cost would be the same as any other dog.Council regulatory services manager Lichelle Guyan said the council reviewed its Dog Control Policy and Bylaw in 2014.
"At the time the policy was introduced we had no recorded disability assist dogs on our register and no feedback came through our consultation process in relation to this."
However, the owner of a "disability assist dog" in the region approached the council about its registration fees last year.
The visit prompted research by the council, which revealed most councils did not charge a registration fee, she said.
Consequently, the council decided to drop the fee.
But the council had overlooked updating its fees and charges to reflect the change, hence the initial response to the ODT.
"As a result a paper will be presented to council at the next available meeting to consider a fee exemption for qualifying disability assist dogs."
