Civic trust's audit costs ‘very, very sobering'
Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust co-chairman Graeme Clark hoists the American flag for the East of Eden production shot in Oamaru in January. Photo: Brendon McMahon
A key driver for the Oamaru heritage tourism sector says "disproportionate" audit costs are a significance issue.
However, the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust has had "a good year", its chairman Richard Vinbroux says.
The trust has been instrumental in putting the town of Oamaru and its built heritage on the international tourist map in the past 30 years.
Mr Vinbroux said with the trust's annual meeting coming up on Tuesday it had much to celebrate.
In particular, its key starring role centred on the precinct in January for the Netflix television adaptation of the Californian-set novel East of Eden.
That production brought an unspecified financial boon and the trust was now in a "very positive" position, Mr Vinbroux said.
The trust was forecasting a $500,000 turnover for the year was expected to turn about a $100,000 profit, which would go back into securing the precinct's assets.
Mr Vinbroux said Netflix brought "a big contribution" to the trust and it was very timely.
"It would have been over half of our profit.
"It helped because we've got ever-rising compliance costs.
"The big buzz kill is we're now having an audit."
That cost alone for a community organisation was "very, very sobering", Mr Vinbroux said.
"It's disproportionate ... we have our annual audit which costs $9500 — plus accounting costs.
"We live in a world that tries to put corporate strategies on to every other aspect of life and it doesn't fit.
"It doesn't fit for charities and I don't think it fits for councils."
This was "on top of everything else".
Mr Vinbroux said there was still a gap between its aims and what the trust was there to achieve: to maintain and enhance its assets on behalf of the community.
The trust last November celebrated 35 years and owned 16 mercantile buildings dating from the 1860s to 1880s in the Harbour and Tyne street precinct.
That area is now regarded as the single most significant collection of buildings of its type in Australasia.
The area is now part of a bid via Heritage NZ to have the broader Oamaru historic town centre and its Victorian port recognised as a National Historic Landmark.
At present the only site with that status is the Waitangi Treaty grounds.
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