North Shore City Council Deceiving Ratepayers On The Funding Source Of Half-Million Dollar New Building.

By using ‘surplus’ loan funding to put up an unnecessary building, the council has shown utter contempt for ratepayers’ rights to be consulted about major expenditure

The council has decided that the Birkenhead Northcote Glenfield Community Facilities Trust [the Trust] should move out of its present accommodation in the Northcote War Memorial Hall and move into a purpose-built building to be constructed adjacent to the Birkenhead Leisure Centre.

The new building will cost between $515,000 and $600,000 and will have on-going annual operating and maintenance maintenance costs of $25,000 or more.

The council originally proposed to fund this cost out of the estimated $14 million proceeds of the sale of surplus council-owned land in Albany. However this money did not feature in the Council’s annual plan and ratepayers were never given an opportunity to comment on the proposal.

The council put this proposal to the Community Trust, the chairperson of which then supplied a letter saying the Trust supported the proposal for a new building.

In fact the Trust’s Board of Trustees were not consulted about the letter before it was sent – at the council’s request -, but most members eventually approved because they were being offered a brand new building, apparently rent free – any voluntary group would leap at such an offer.

However the Auckland Transition Agency[ATA] refused the council permission to use those funds to build the new Trust building, for the reason that the proposal was not in either the council’s annual plan or long term plan - in other words it had not been the subject of public scrutiny during the legally required consultation process with ratepayers and residents.

The ATA has, during the current transition period period to the new Auckland Council, the power to refuse any significant expenditure by all the Auckland councils if such expenditure is not in the long-term and annual plans – which is the case with the proposed new Trust building.

The ATA did indicate that it would consider the matter again if the council could find some alternative funding such as savings.

The council then found it had almost $444,902 ‘spare’ as a result of lower than expected compensation payments for Busway land purchases. These payments were funded by way of a loan – which, like all loans, will ultimately need to be re-paid from council rates.

However ratepayers will have had no say in this decision – they have not been consulted in any way, and they will ultimately bear the costs if this building goes ahead.

At the present time the Transition Agency has not approved this expenditure, simply because the council has not yet requested permission to use this borrowed money to build the new Trust building.

The proper course of action for the council should have been not to take up this $444,902 loan money - which was being borrowed for an entirely different purpose - and therefore reduce the total amount of debt that future ratepayers will need to service and repay.

By seeking to use this ‘surplus’ loan funding to put up an unnecessary building, the council has shown utter contempt for ratepayers’ rights to be consulted about major expenditure.

[Declaration of interest, David Thornton is a member of the Board of Trustees of the BirkenheadNorthcoteGlenfield Community Faculties Trust. He says the Trust does an enormous amount of good work in many social areas of the Harbour Ward of North Shore City – but the Trust already has adequate accommodation in Northcote from which the Mayor and his A team of councillors wants to see them ejected.]

ENDS

© Scoop Media