Council sharpens up on fines recovery | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

The Christchurch City Council is hoping to fill its coffers with increased numbers of recovered fines.

The council and the Ministry of Justice have joined forces through a new information-sharing and co-operation agreement to help the organisations more efficiently administer and collect fines.

The two groups, who signed a memorandum of agreement today, have been working closer together over recent months.

The relationship has resulted in a substantial increase in the amount of fines recovered.

The majority of council infringement notices that end up in the courts system come from parking tickets.

Other areas are animal control and minor breaches of the Resource Management Act and City Plan.

In the year to June 30, 2004, the council received a total of $2.29 million of outstanding fines through the courts. The year before, this figure was only $1.45 million.