Only Government Cash Can Save Stadium

The plan for a new Stadium is dead unless the the Government comes up with money to replace the shortfall from other funding sources. The fund-raising from the private sector is well-short of target and the Community Trust of Otago has suffered from the current financial decline and no longer has a spare $10 million. I have no doubt that intense lobbying is going on to try to get cash from the new National Government's "infrastructure" spendup.
But the Government should be aware that giving money which enables the Stadium to go ahead will be controversial and unpopular with a large proportion of Otago people. Locals would be still left with high rates and an enormous debt to repay.
Surveys and submissions to local bodies have consistently shown a significant majority opposed to a new Stadium if it is largely publicly funded.

Slack Management Allows Otago DHB Fraud

Otago District Health Board Chairman, Richard Thomson, is talking a lot about the $17.8 million fraud by Michael Swann. We are getting lots of excuses, but no-one is being held to account for the slack management.

Richard Thomson says:

One of Brian Rousseau's early actions after his arrival here was to get an independent review done of our IT strategy.

The reviewers' list does not include the "contracts" because, if they existed at the time, Swann made sure they were not available to review.

But why was the total value of the reviewed contracts not compared with the actual amount being spent on IT: the fraud would have then been apparent. A diligent manager would have done this, but Brian Rousseau did not.
The responsibility for the culture of an organisation ultimately lies the the man at the top. Richard Thomson was Chairman during almost all the time the fraud was taking place. He would gain respect if he did the decent thing and resigned.

Otago Rugby Wants Profit From Carisbrook

The Otago Rugby Football Union wants to make a profit from selling Carisbrook to the Carisbrook Stadium Trust, while the public is expected to pay almost all the cost of the new Stadium.
It is easy to see why: Otago Rugby needs the money. It owes the Dunedin City Council $2 million and the Bank of New Zealand $4million after losing $2.6 million over the previous two seasons. And another substantial loss is likely for the current season given the small crowds witch attended matches this year.

Allanton Wastewater Funding

I believe that current residents only paying 20 % of the Capital cost of the Wastewater Systems is far too generous and this will be a very expensive precedent.
In theory, current residents will pay 20% of their share of the capital cost, and future developers will pay 100%. But the Council will finance the share for the undeveloped sections in the meantime.
As few sections will be developed in the foreseeable future, the Council will end up paying for 80% of the current residents share plus almost all of the share for the undeveloped sections. For Allanton, this will be about 93% of the capital cost.
I cannot see any logical reason why current residents should be treated any differently than future residents. If there are public health issues, then they are caused by pollution by current residents. Whatever happened to polluter pays?
If this precedent is followed for future projects of this type, the cost to the Council will be many millions of dollars.

A New Government

A New Government has been voted in.
Whatever good the Labour Government may have done, New Zealand's standard of living has fallen behind that of other countries over the last nine years. That is why so many people are moving to Australia.
But the new National Government has policies little different from those of Labour. It is hard to see how there will be a change in outcome without a change of policy.

Orokonui Kaka Released

A great day for our City: Six kaka have been released in the Orokonui EcoSanctuary.
This is the start of the re-creation of the wonderful New Zealand bush of old.

ODT calls for DCC to "Cut its Cloth"

The Dunedin Ciy Council finance head, Athol Stephens, recently warned that, in the face of an economic downturn, major city projects may need to be reconsidered.
The ODT has now added it's voice:

As Dunedin's debt grows, it also faces a credit rating downgrade, albeit small, which means the interest rate it has to pay on debts will rise. At the same time, income from the council-owned companies - which are used to subsidise rates - can be expected to decrease because they will not be immune from recession.Dunedin has no realistic choice other than to cut its cloth to match its current circumstances.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Dunedin cannot afford the new Stadium.
But it is hard to see the current Council changing direction.