The Management Agency National American Foulbrood Pest Management Plan - the body that overseas combating and eradicating the disease - wanted to increase the apiary and beekeeper levy to a maximum of $40 per beekeeper and $50 per apiary to be phased in during the next five years.
The additional levies were expected to raise a further $2.15million - up from the $1million apiarists already pay - and enable the Management Agency to fully implement the National Pest Management Plan to reduce the level of AFB in New Zealand.
National compliance manager Clifton King said they had yet to finish analysing the feedback.
''We received 828 submissions so it will take quite a few weeks to analyse them,'' Mr King said.
''We are looking through the detail to understand what the consensus is.''
He said he expected the agency to share the results of the consultation about late November or early December.
''As we have taken additional time to analyse the feedback, there will not be any increase in the levy for the 2019-20 financial year.''
However, if any changes were to be introduced, it would take effect for the following 2020-21 year.
He said if the levy level was to change ''there were quite a few hurdles to jump through'', with government staff going through the application with a ''fine-tooth comb''.
Despite the lengthy process, the agency was already making changes to use resources and the existing budget to better advantage
That included appointing a national field manager, Marco Gonzalez, of Christchurch, who started in the role on October 1.
''He will be managing the inspection process instead of it being outsourced through Assure Quality,'' he said.
''That will give us much more dedicated resources to focus on managing inspections and the follow-up process where beekeepers were not managing any AFB found in their hives.
''We will be able to do more inspections within our existing budget than what we have done.''
The agency was in the middle of carrying out interviews to recruit additional staff.
Mr King said Otago and Southland had some of the lowest rates of infection in the country.
''In the past 12 months the rate of AFB reported in Otago was .15% of hives, while in Southland it was 0.9%
''The average across the country was .29%,'' he said.
