Hut Fees

dont vote for national. they have done more than labour to reduce spending on DOC. and yet trying and exploit the parks for commercial and industrial use. as long as national are in power i dont see any more spending going into conservation other than on the occasional new expensive walk wherever thre are loads of toursists

Everyone uses health education and roads they are paid from tax. Huts are used by maybe 10% of people so there is a valid argument to make it at least partially user pays. The reality is the the best election gift ever is a tax cut and so many people see no further than the extra dollar 50 in the wallet. No one sees that this comes at the expense of services somewhere. No one remembers that there kids school had to double its voluntary donation last year or that there dear gran spent 6 months in a wheelchair because thats how long it now takes to get a hip replaced. By the way she will now always be in a wheel chair but if it had been done earlier she would still be able to walk. No one notices that the police now post you a form if you get burgled. Doc funding is in the same boat. Actually its more hanging onto the side of that boat as its less important than peoples health. Sooner or later you have to pay the piper one way or another

taxes are the price you pay for civilisation.. the police minister has just signed off a four year freeze in staffing numbers

As much as I remember the good ol' days when huts were free under the Forest Service, and as much I disagree with being taxed and then forced into user-pays, I buy an annual hut pass every year (~$90 w/FMC membership). I figure DOC have a huge responsibility that they are grossly underfunded for and every dollar helps. I call it my annual charitable donation to DOC to help ease the conscience, just like buying a lotto ticket is a charitable donation to a number of worthy causes (have yet to break even on my own worthy cause...)

@wayno "dont vote for national." At last something we can both whole-heartedly agree on. :-) I would go one step further; like many older kiwis I still feel just a little lost and alienated from the world I live in ... the neo-liberal madness since the 80's has transformed NZ into something I don't quite recognise or like. That's why so many trampers are old farts like me; for a few hours or days we can pretend the modern world doesn't exist and we can heal ourselves a little. Of course time was never going to stand still, NZ in the 70's was not a nirvana, but the direction we have taken since then has landed us in a bad place. Bluffed out over some nasty country and the weather closing in. As for hut fees, I'm happy enough to make my contribution. In particular the Annual Hut Pass available to FMC Affiliated club members is exceedingly good value, and there is zero excuse for any regular tramper not to buy one. Having said that, I'd be happier if I knew that Hut Fees were more closely allocated to looking after the backcountry, its huts, tracks and biodiversity. Or that at least some them was recycled directly to community organisations like Permolat.

I'm not convinced that hut fees are a helpful thing, especially with the non-GW huts. It's mostly on the grounds that they're difficult or impossible to enforce economically in all but the most frequently visited huts, and there's heaps of evidence that they're abused and that masses of dishonest people are subsidised by honest people. I think it'd be much easier if we stopped messing around worrying about anonymous and unverifiable people paying tiny fees, and simply dropped an extra $1.6 million on DOC to cover the revenue that hut fees actually raise in a year. In the scheme of what the government deals with every year, that amount of money is tiny. Or, alternatively, even see what happens if we ask people to pay what they think it's worth instead of telling people they *have* to pay an exact amount. (Many people wouldn't pay a thing. Some people might surprise us.) I do pay hut fees as is. My stance there, apart from wanting to support the system where public funding isn't, is that I think it'd be harder for me to raise issues about being penalised by other people's dishonesty if I was also being dishonest. It's just a gripe, really.

@izogi I have to agree with the basic sentiment, that hut fees are probably in the greater scheme of things, counterproductive. All they do really is create an environment for cheating and abuse, and the amount raised is just not enough to meet the real need. Frankly their introduction is just another example of ideological policy making that flies in the face of reality. "Or, alternatively, even see what happens if we ask people to pay what they think it's worth instead of telling people they *have* to pay an exact amount. (Many people wouldn't pay a thing. Some people might surprise us.) " Yes there is no doubt that there are some people who will give very, very generously to something they care about. Permolat gets some quite remarkable and touching donations from time to time ... from people who love the old huts and are fortunate enough to be in a position to do something concrete to express it.

Keil: "hut fees were introduced in 1988, how did they gather the initative to do this? They decide to cut DOC's funding and sure enough it got its way because the FMC's signed up for huge discounts on annual hut passes and services. " On this, DOC's finances were a mess before the mid-90s. One of the indirect outcomes of the various Cave Creek investigations was to point out that since its formation, DOC really didn't have a clue where its money was going. It was very hard to justify asking for more money, let alone justify what it was getting. Maybe the government cut funding, but DOC possibly threw away as much money to places that weren't well audited or accounted for or necessarily justifiable. This has largely changed now though, fortunately.

I just buy an annual pass and keep my conscience clear. As long as the price stays in the current ballpark and they keep a discount for FMC members I'm happy enough. I think it's great that kids are free, including Great Walks huts, makes me feel better paying my $54 or whatever when I can book beds for three kids for free as well. I guess I'd be happier if the discount for annual pass holders when booking any of the Great Walks huts was 20 or 25% so those who get out and about a lot get a bit of a break.