LGOIMA Process

Response

Sent: Monday, 22 June 2026 08:26am
Subject: Official Information Request - LGOIMA Process

I refer to your Official Information request of 4 June 2026 for information regarding Councils' LGOIMA Process.

Question:

Does your council have a formal LGOIMA charging policy?

Answer:

No, however Council is in the process of creating a policy. Council currently uses the Ministry of Justice guidelines for OIA charges.

Question:

If so, do you require payment in full before work begins, or do you accept a deposit?

Answer:

Currently when advising people of a charge, this is the communication we have been providing to them:

“The cost to collate the information for the attached requests is therefore estimated to be $____ (___ x $76). If you would like to proceed with your requests, please let Council know by __________ and we will arrange an invoice. The invoice will need to be paid prior to any research and collation being undertaken. Please note that Council is not required to provide you with the requested information if you do not pay the charge. “

Please note that this may or may change after the LGOIMA Charging policy is created.

Question:

Do you commit to the quoted price even if the work takes longer than expected?

Answer:

Council has not had an acceptance of charge, however Council’s expectation would be that once an estimation of time charge has been accepted and paid for, that it is Council’s responsibility to provide that information within that time frame. If it were to exceed, Council would not expect the requestor to pay for this. On the other hand, if the time taken were to be less than the estimate, Council would expect to provide a refund to the requestor.

Question:

Are your fees and charging structures published or available for public reference?

Answer:

Please find the 2026/27 Fees and Charges document on Councils' website. You will find the LGOIMA charges listed on page 13.

Question:

In your experience, is redaction one of the more time‑intensive parts of processing a request?

Answer:

Yes, however Council believes that it is also the time to read through information to decide what/if anything is requiring redaction, that can also be a time-intensive part of processing a request.

Please note:

You stated in your request that “Your LGOIMA contact address appears to be unavailable.”

Council does have the LGOIMA contact email address the Local Governance Statement 2025-2028 document on page 39.

However, Council acknowledges that this should be more visible and easily located, so Council have now added this email address in the LGOIMA section of our website HERE.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.