Updated 7.06.13.
Waikato District Council has approved the Whaanga Coast Wastewater Scheme in a public excluded meeting of the full Council held on the 28th May. The motion listed below has been just released publicly.
From the wording of the approved motion it appears that the project is expected to cost more. When the project was first put to residents in early 2011, the estimated cost was $2.1 million. By late 2011, it had up crept to $2.5 million. Council reports now show the estimated cost as $3.26 million and a total allocation of $3.5 million. The recently approved motion says that the funding deficit will be covered from the general rate. If this is the case it means that all ratepayers in the District will be contributing a bigger cost to the project, while direct costs for Whaanga Coast residents will be held at the levels they have already agreed to. (A WDC spokesperson advised that, “the project is still expected to cost around $3.26 million, although with the tender not having been let we can’t confirm this with more accuracy at this time. It is not expected to cost more than that.”)
A report in the Waikato Times covers the project. The Times report says, “Confidential documents leaked to the Waikato Times show council split over the scheme’s merits, and staff recommending tenders for the project be rejected on financial grounds.And a source has told the Times that ratepayers might have to stump up another $450,000 to $500,000 to complete the project if some properties did not join the scheme.”
The report also quotes WDC CEO Gavin Ion as saying, “Council staff had recommended tenders for the project be rejected on financial grounds and at this stage no tender had been let”. In this unusual move for the Waikato council it seems to have come to a decision different from a staff recommendation. Well done councillors!
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WDC1305/15/1 S&F1305/12/3 – Whaanga Coast Wastewater Scheme
It was resolved [WDC1305/12/3 and WDC1305/12/1/4] during the public excluded section of the meeting that the following resolution be released into open meeting but the report remain confidential and unavailable to the public.
‘Resolved: (Crs Baddeley/Morse)
THAT Council approves option 2; ‘Council retains the current connection charges, allowing the remaining 45 properties to connect during the construction phase (as discussed during consultation) and absorbs the funding deficit through the general rate, via loan repayments of both principal and interest’.
The original motion was PUT and CARRIED on a show of hands 10 voting in FAVOUR and 3 voting AGAINST’.