16 June 2020
Masterton District Council is determined to minimise the number of dog owners who pay more than they need to for dog registration this year.
There are around 3,600 registered dog owners, and 6,000 registered dogs, in Masterton, but last year 373 owners (with a total of 843 registrations) had to pay 50 per cent extra in fees because of late payment. And 109 $300 infringement fees were imposed through the courts on owners who didn’t register their dogs.
This year all registrations paid by 31 July will go into the draw to win one of six refunded registration fees (for a single dog).
There’ll also be six prize packs of dog and human goodies in a draw for fees paid by 30 June – (those winners will also go into the draw for a refund).
Environmental Services Manager Terri Mulligan said the effort was aimed at avoiding unnecessary costs for dog owners.
“The money we get from dog registrations pays for our animal services work, including running the pound, and enabling us to reconnect lost dogs with their owners. We also pay levies to the Department of Internal Affairs to fund the national dog database. But we don’t want dog owners paying extra money if we can avoid it,” she said.
“There are a whole range of ways to pay the fee, and we can also set up payment plans that spread out the cost of registration.
“If dog owners want to talk to us about payment options, we want them to contact us sooner rather than later instead of simply not paying. That will just end up costing them more money and we want to avoid it if we can.
“The time to organise a payment plan is now, so payments are complete by 31 July.”
The Animal Services team can be contacted on 06 370 6300 or by emailing: [email protected]
Dog registration fees
Urban entire – $136.00
Urban neutered – $82.00
Responsible dog owners – $61.50
First rural dog – $82.00
Second and subsequent rural dog $22.00
Permit to keep more than two dogs in urban Masterton – $55.00
ENDS