In past years Waikato District Council has diverted $100K plus of Raglan Harbour Reserve money to general funds. Councillors were told about this by GM Tony Whittaker at the Tuesday June 24th meeting of the Waikato Council’s Strategy & Finance Committee.
The Raglan Harbour Reserve money comes from the leasehold income from the Harbour Reserve block in central Raglan. The land was originally given by the Government to the old Raglan Harbour Board to finance development of harbour facilities. The Waikato Council is still required to account for the money separately and can only spend it on Raglan Harbour facilities. In recent years the fund has been used to pay for the Papahua Footbridge and repair work on the wharf.
Mr Whittaker said the diversion was caused by a historical error in 2011/12 and recommended that the $115,594 be returned to the Raglan Harbour Reserve fund so the fund correctly reflects the funding available for projects going forward. The councillors voted for the staff recommendation. A council spokesperson told Raglan 23 that the money was repaid to the Harbour Reserve account soon after the vote.
This was an accounting error that was a genuine mistake. No skull duggary here Rodger.
I don’t read this article as suggesting skulduggery; just yet another mistake. We all make mistakes, but some make more than others. Has anyone counted how many this council has made and how much it’s cost us? More important, is there any sign of learning from mistakes and developing procedures to avoid them?
I agree with John’s comment. As the judge said about the waste water spill, ‘poor management’. This accounting error is just another example of poor management. A $100k accounting error doesn’t go undetected for two years if the right checks and audit procedures are in place. The WDC organisation does not learn from mistakes as it has a corporate memory with a half life of about 90 days. It wasn’t as bad as that 10 years ago.
I accept that our Council has made a few mistakes and mistakes always cost but I also know that the WDC senior managers are working hard to learn from the mistakes made.