Latest news with #LocalGovernmentOfficialInformationandMeetingsAct
Otago Daily Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Chch residents not exempt from stadium ticket levy
Christchurch residents hoping to avoid a potential ticket levy for events at One New Zealand Stadium are out of luck. The stadium's operator, city council-owned Venues Ōtautahi, has told The Star there will be no region or location-based ticket levy, despite earlier suggestions from some city councillors and Mayor Phil Mauger. Instead, any ticket levy will apply to all ticketholders, including those in Christchurch, who contributed ratepayer funds to the stadium's construction. 'We can confirm there will not be a regionally targeted ticket levy for ticket purchasers outside the Christchurch City Council region. Regionally targeted levies are difficult to enforce and not supported by our ticketing systems,' said Venues Ōtautahi chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare in an emailed statement. Mauger and Waimairi Ward councillor Sam MacDonald first proposed the idea of a location-based ticket levy in August 2023, suggesting it could help offset operating costs by charging more to people living outside Christchurch. However, both Mauger and the city council have since dropped efforts to seek funding contributions from other district councils. Venues Ōtautahi confirmed to The Star in April it had ruled out ratepayers from neighbouring district councils contributing funds to the stadium's operating costs. While a ticket levy is still under consideration, Harvie-Teare said it would apply to all ticket holders, regardless of where they live, and would depend on the type of event and ticket pricing. 'Ticket levies are standard practice across industry and apply to most major venues across the country to cover costs such as repairs and maintenance. These levies can vary from venue to venue, event to event.' Ticket levies are already used in some form at Auckland's Eden Park and Spark Arena. The $683 million stadium in Christchurch will open next April with a 30,000 capacity for sports matches and 36,000 for concerts. Venues Ōtautahi is staying mostly quiet about its plan to pay for events funding at the stadium and what will be covered by its own revenue, as opposed to city council money. Venues Ōtautahi refused to release the stadium's business plan to The Star, with Harvie-Teare saying it is 'commercially sensitive.' The Star, under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, has requested Venues Ōtautahi's business plan for the stadium. Harvie-Teare would also not comment on what aspects of events, such as security, will be funded by the ratepayer and which will be paid for by the private event organiser. 'The split of costs between the venue and the client also varies from event to event. 'The specifics for each event are specified in venue hire contracts between the client and Venues Ōtautahi and on this basis are commercially sensitive,' Harvie-Teare said.
Scoop
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Councillor Challenges West Coast Council Over Secrecy
A West Coast regional councillor is challenging the council's refusal to reveal the credentials of people who work for it. Brett Cummings, who chairs the council's Resource Management Committee, asked the council in March for details of the professional qualifications of Commissioners and a planner engaged by the council to work on the region's new district plan - Te Tai o Poutini Plan (TTPP). The Greymouth goldminer represents his council on the TTPP working group and has protested regularly over its mounting costs and rules he considers too restrictive. 'It's supposed to be an enabling plan, customised for the Coast but the planners have taken over and I wanted to know to know how qualified they are and in what fields'. Cr Cummings made his request under the provisions of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA). But the council's quarterly summary of LGOIMA requests showed it was rejected on privacy grounds. Under the Act, councils can withhold information to protect the privacy of 'natural persons'', including the dead. Cr Cummings says that makes no sense in this case. 'These are professional people and we are paying them and the council should be open about their backgrounds and their qualifications.' The councillor has since found the information he wanted both online and in the council's public documents. Principal planner Lois Easton formally recorded her credentials with the TTPP committee at the beginning of the plan project. Her LinkedIn profile describes her as an environmental scientist with 25 years' experience advising government and not for profit organisations. And a quick Google search reveals her bio as a member of the Hawke's Bay Conservation Board, with an MSc degree in environmental planning and botany. The credentials of the five TTPP commissioners are also readily available online. Cr Cummings says council staff appear confused about the meaning of privacy, as it applies under LGOIMA. 'If the information is publicly available and our council staff are citing privacy – you have to wonder why.' The LGOIMA report shows the council rejected several other information requests on privacy grounds, and those decisions should be reviewed, Cr Cummings said. The West Coast Regional Council received 27 LGOIMA requests over the quarter and granted 13 of them in full. Ten were granted in part, with remaining questions declined. Privacy grounds were cited in three other cases. Information requested about the Taylorville Resource Park and its monitoring was partly withheld on grounds of privacy, maintenance of the law, legal privilege and to protect the free and frank exchange of information by or to council officers. A request about the Te Kinga pest control aerial poison drop was refused in part to 'protect staff and contractors from improper pressure or harassment." Another, about compliance monitoring, was declined to protect privacy and the integrity of the council's environmental complaints hotline. Other requests were refused on commercial grounds, or because the information did not exist, or that collating it would require too much work. The council has been approached for comment.
Otago Daily Times
14-05-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Documents reveal extent of problems
Problems with the Southland Hospital's "too small" emergency department are outlined in information prepared for former Health Minister Shane Reti in December 2024, released to Local Democracy Reporting under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act. The three-page document discussed the hospital's struggling emergency department and operating theatres which have been waiting on upgrades since 2021 when funding was allocated. "Southland Hospital is experiencing significant capacity constraints in ED (emergency department)," the report stated. "The ED is too small to allow for the efficient flow of patients, this leads to extended times for patients to be placed in a clinical space to be assessed." A lack of specialised treatment spaces in the department meant it was not complying with relevant standards of "safe, effective and dignified care", the document said. "The ED is not equipped to sustainably and safely treat infectious patients." Meanwhile, demand was only increasing. In 2024, the department was tracking at 2015 patients per bed compared to recommended targets of between 1000-1500. A shortfall in theatres was also hitting the hospital hard, with Southland now home to a "stringent" eligibility criteria and some of the highest thresholds for surgery in the country. When the information was prepared in December, there were 1071 patients waiting more than four months for surgical procedures. High demand for acute and trauma care — especially from Queenstown — was straining resources, it said. Surgeons were not being fully utilised, and a further 90 surgeries could be completed each month if more theatres were created. The initial business case from 2021 estimated a need for two more operating theatres. Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) would not give the current budget for upgrades to the hospital, but said $3million had previously been allocated for theatre capacity and $5m for emergency department expansion. The combined $8m was deemed insufficient without significant compromises, the document said. A more accurate figure is expected as part of an updated concept design and business case. But it is anticipated to take a further two years to deliver the upgrades once the case is approved. Issues with sleeping facilities were also noted, as the current arrangement did not satisfy the multi-employer collective agreement. The report said the hospital was built with the expectation the region's population would decrease, but it had done the opposite. It also highlighted pressure resulting from the closure of Invercargill's urgent doctors in March 2024 and a struggle to recruit new GPs. Local Democracy Reporting asked for notes and minutes from a February meeting between Southland District Council and HNZ, but none were taken. A spokesperson for HNZ said the two parties met regularly.
NZ Herald
13-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Watercare spends $11m on consultants for delayed Huia treatment plant project
Since 2018, Watercare has spent $22.6m on the Huia plant replacement projects, according to figures released to the Herald under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act. Of the total figure, $8.5m related to property purchases, which Watercare said are likely to be sold once the project is finished, and $7.7m was spent on obtaining resource consent, which encountered environmental issues and appeals. Engineering consultants Aurecon were the highest paid of the 57 vendors at $2.4m, followed by law firm Simpson Grierson ($1.7m), engineering consultants Tonkin & Taylor ($1.4m), and landscape architect Boffa Miskell ($1.3m). Most vendors were paid tens of thousands of dollars or less. The cheapest vendor was Print Consultants ($220). In a statement, Watercare said that since the project was granted resource consent in late 2023, there was more certainty about what was required, and other projects had been grouped with the plant for a total cost of $1.1b. Figures showed the 2018 cost of $420m had changed in scope and cost to about $980m in 2025, and the remainder of the $1.1b was new projects. A confidential business update to the board in April this year said some of the water projects were 'extremely complex' and 'associated works are significantly behind historic schedule'. The statement reiterated the earlier view of Watercare chief executive Dave Chambers that the $1.1b cost of the project was realistic and represented good value for Aucklanders. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is also relaxed about the project cost, telling the Herald in March that improvements had been planned for several years and the overall project would build water supply resilience across the north and west network. 'I expect Watercare has carefully considered its projects and will work to ensure the investment provides good value for what they're spending. We have seen in Wellington what happens when there is under-investment in water infrastructure. We don't want to see that happen in Auckland,' he said. The billion-dollar project has also come to the attention of the Commerce Commission, which has been appointed by the Government to monitor Watercare's finances and other performance measures under a charter until 2028. Commission chairman Dr John Small said Aucklanders could expect greater transparency and accountability from Watercare, including quarterly reports on capital projects. 'We expect this to include the programme of work for the Huia water treatment plant.'
Otago Daily Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Councillor's attendance questioned
Nobby Clark. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark has hit out at an attempt by a councillor to ask for details about museum build costs, saying if he turned up to meetings he would be aware of the money involved. Mr Clark and Cr Ian Pottinger were at odds at yesterday's infrastructure and projects committee meeting after the councillor proposed a notice of motion seeking answers to questions about how money had been spent. In March, Cr Pottinger filed a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request seeking details on the amount spent on consultants for Project 1225, which includes the new museum for Southland, the tuatara enclosure and a storage facility in Tisbury. Speaking to the motion, he said after reading the information he had questions about how money had been spent. He outlined those questions which were included in an amended resolution asking council staff to prepare a report explaining why $337,927 was spent on museum operational advice, if the $249,519 spent on legal services involved litigation or mediation and what the $387,000 spend on fit-out and design was related to. During the discussion of the motion, Mr Clark said it was with a "reasonable level of frustration" that he listened to Cr Pottinger speak to the motion. In the past seven months the project had been discussed at length during four meetings, he said. "Three of those four meetings he's been an apology." At the council's July 30 meeting where eight resolutions regarding the museum were passed, the only one Cr Pottinger opposed was a proposal to consult the public. Cr Pottinger called a point of order and said the reason he was not at the meeting was because he was in the United States. "This is getting personal from the mayor against me." He asked the meeting chairman Cr Grant Dermody to intervene. Cr Dermody said he was about to and asked Cr Pottinger to be "respectful". "We're not going to get into a tit for tat here." Mr Clark said the time to have input had been at those earlier meetings. "It's a bit rich to come back at this late stage in an election year and do politicking."
