Official Information Request - Infringement fees

Sent: Thursday, 2 September 2021 11:24 am
Subject: LGOIMA request - infringement fees

I refer to your Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act of 25 August 2021 regarding infringement fees/notices. The following responses have been provided by i-Park, Council’s parking contractor:

Part One:

1. Does your council refer unpaid infringement notice fees to the Ministry Of Justice for collection
Yes

2. Does your council refer unpaid infringement notice fees to private debt collection companies for collection?
No

3. If yes to question number 2 above, what legislation formally allows you to do this?
N/A

4. Does your council either yourself or using a third party update individuals personal credit file history with regards to unpaid infringements?
Council or i-Park do not do this. The Ministry of Justice may do this, but their processes are defined by Central Government and are not under our direction.

5. If yes to number 4, do you use the standard Ministry Of Justice “fines” process which is automatically removed from an individuals personal credit file upon payment of the fines, or do you use a private third party credit reporting agency or debt collection company, which remains on a individuals personal credit file for 5 years from the date of listing?
i-Park submits all unpaid fines to the Ministry of Justice. Refer to No.4 regarding MoJ processes.

6. With regards to number 5 above, do you authorise credit reporting agencies and or debt collection companies to remove credit defaults from individuals personal credit files following the payment of infringement notices or do you persist they remain for the maximum time allowable by privacy law?
See Nos.4 and 5.

7. Do you allow individuals to come to a payment arrangement prior to referring unpaid infringement notices to any of the above sources, or similar to some government agencies (Eg: Nz Police) do you refuse to allow direct payment arrangements?
Council and i-Park do not allow part payments of infringements but do allow direct payment.

Part Two:

1. In the twelve month ending 31/07/2021 how many unpaid infringement notices did you refer to the Ministry Of Justice for formal collection?
7,319 infringements were submitted to the Ministry of Justice between 1/8/2020 and 31/7/2021.

2. In the twelve months ending 31/07/2021 how many unpaid infringement notices did you refer to private debt collection (any other company or organisation that is not the Ministry Of Justice) for collection?
As per No.2 in Part One, i-Park refers unpaid infringement notices to Ministry of Justice only.

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

Publication of responses to LGOIMA requests

Please note: Our LGOIMA responses may be published on the Rotorua Lakes Council website after they have been responded to, with requesters’ personal details withheld. If you have any concerns about this please contact the Council on info@rotorualc.nz .

Regards