A leaflet which has turned up in Ōamaru letterboxes over the last two weeks, makes some claims which are “fundamentally incorrect”, the mayor says.

The four-page document, produced by the Waitaki Ratepayers and Residents Association, suggests the $15m the Waitaki District Council has pledged to the centre should be paid for without an increase in rates, but by cutting other spending.

It was decided in the 2023-24 Annual Plan to increase the council’s contribution to the event centre from $10million to $15m, due to increasing construction costs. 

Of the $15m agreed on, $10m will be loan-funded over 20 years, and the remaining $5m will be funded from other sources which will not have a rates impact. This is likely to include the RMA Reserves Fund, which has a current balance of more than $2m.

While the Ratepayers Association does not disagree with the construction of the event centre, it makes a number of suggestions of where costs could be cut elsewhere.

These include reducing staff growth, not borrowing an extra $8m for water projects planned for this year (which it claims will save on interest annually), stopping the transformation plan at the end of this tax year - which it claims will save $2.1m next year, capping spending on consultants, redirecting Better Off funding, and cutting back funding to community groups and individuals. 

There is also an online petition, which has attracted 174 signatures since July 17.

Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said he had been away, so had not seen the leaflet or had a chance to talk to anybody about it, but looking on the association’s website - which contains the same text - “several of the fundamental assertions are incorrect”.

“For example, it ignores the fact that a programme, such as our transformation, is designed to not only improve service, but to help make council more efficient in the long term.”

This is something the association has been told numerous times, he said.

Another example is the community grants and donations, which help many more people than stated.

“The actual benefits to the community are usually significantly more than they imply. 

“The assumption is that all this money comes from rates, but it doesn't. Some comes from other, central government sources and grants that council administers rather than funds.”

A statement from the Waitaki Event Centre Trust said it is grateful for the support of the association, and that it recognises the centre will have a significant positive influence on the physical and mental health of the wider Waitaki community.

“As a trust we have been working hard for the past two years, in order to raise as much funding as we can to ensure the effect on the ratepayer is minimised, with maximum effect of the benefits that this facility will bring,” the statement said.

“For an investment of this size, it is important we get it right and have a facility that our entire district is proud of and utilises.”

Consultation with the community has shown the desire for the centre to go ahead, and the trust is grateful the council made the decision to increase the funding as a result of this.

The council contribution also means the trust has better access to other contestable funding options, and it was hard at work securing these, it said.

“The cheapest time to build this is now, however we also need to make sure that this is future-proofed to meet the needs not only of the current generation, but of future generations of our community.”

It had a comprehensive plan for the next six months, as it aims to hit the funding target of $32 Million.