### ODT Online Wed, 25 Jan 2012
DCC could borrow from self
By David Loughrey
The Dunedin City Council will consider borrowing from its own almost $70 million Waipori fund, instead of using commercial lending institutions. The idea would be to provide regular income to the fund through interest, and produce a situation where the council would, in effect, be paying interest on its loans to itself.
Read more
—
### ODT Online Wed, 25 Jan 2012
Communities will have to help pay: Cull
By Chris Morris
Communities across Dunedin will need to do more to help pay for projects, as the Dunedin City Council grapples with tight finances threatening to curtail spending on key ventures, Mayor Dave Cull says. The warning came as councillors met in public yesterday for the start of a two-day meeting to discuss the council’s 2012-13 pre-draft annual and long-term plans. The early budgets forecast a 4.7% rates increase from July 1, but councillors were also grappling with a list of about 40 unfunded projects – including the proposed $11.5 million Mosgiel pool and a new South Dunedin library – yet to be included in the council’s spending plans.
Read more
Citizens and ratepayers are given the “pay up or shut up” treatment—councillors are “of a mind” to include some projects in council spending plans…
The top five projects, in order, were a new Maori consultation model, Ocean Beach erosion work, Caversham tunnel work, repairs to the St Clair sea wall, ramp and stairs, and a new council energy plan. [Added items] The council’s share of the Blueskin Bay library ($745,000) and priority parts of the strategic cycle network ($1.5 million over three years) in South Dunedin.
Further discussion at DCC draft annual plan 2012/13 and DCC living beyond its means [all spending and debt not declared]
—
Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
A bit beyond me. Why not just take the 70 mil and pay debt? Or is that too simple?
The Waipori Fund’s deed of constitution is prescriptive.
This is still a borrow and spend mentality.It sounds desperate – the equivalent of raiding the kids’ money boxes to pay for the family’s groceries while the TV is on HP, with a promise to pay the kids back.
Cull’s ‘partnership’ message gets another airing, but how come there was no private sector funding available for the stadium?
—
### ODT Online Mon, 6 Feb 2012
Joint effort on jetty praised
By Hamish McNeilly
The Portobello Jetty was a reminder of what can be achieved when a community and council work together, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said at the official opening on Saturday. The $382,000 jetty project, first presented to the council for the 2004 draft plan, was a joint effort between Portobello Community Inc, the council and other funding organisations.
Read more
### ODT Online Sun, 16 Nov 2014
Portobello pontoon repairs in dispute
By Vaughan Elder
A dispute over who pays to fix the faulty Portobello pontoon means it might not be back in time for Christmas and the busy boating season. […] Holes began appearing in the pontoon after the $382,000 jetty was opened in 2012 and repeated underwater repair attempts had failed.
Read more
### ODT Online Wed, 3 Dec 2014
Pontoon sinks, frustration and anger rise
By Debbie Porteous
An Otago Peninsula community leader has lambasted the Dunedin companies that designed and built the faulty Portobello pontoon, saying it is “totally unacceptable” they are not putting the situation right immediately. The Dunedin City Council says it is also “very frustrated” with the situation.
Otago Peninsula community board chairwoman Christine Garey said she wanted to let pontoon designer Spiire Consulting (now Calibre Consulting) and principal building contractor Amalgamated Builders Ltd (ABL) and its sub-contractor Action Engineering, know the onus was on them to sort out between them the repair and return of the pontoon to the community before Christmas and at no further cost to ratepayers.
Read more
Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Progress on Portobello Pontoon
This item was published on 08 Dec 2014
An agreement has been reached which means repairs to the Portobello pontoon will be underway shortly. Depending on the availability of various tradespeople over the holiday break, the pontoon should be back in the water by mid-January.
DCC Acting Parks Manager Richard Dahlenburg says, “This offer means the process of determining exactly what went wrong, and where the responsibility for that lies, will continue, but in the meantime it ensures that the public facility is available for use.”
Amalgamated Builders will take account of repair costs until agreement can be reached by all parties as to the cause of the problem. The repair work to be carried out is significant and would have to be done at some stage. Later improvements may be required when the investigative process is complete. Once the repairs have been completed, the pontoon will be pressure tested overnight to verify water tightness and then returned to Portobello. Updates on repair progress and timing for the return to Portobello will be given over the coming weeks.
The pontoon was removed in August after DCC staff were notified it was taking on water. Since then, discussions have been held between staff, the consultant and the contractor to work out what had gone wrong, who was responsible and how to get the pontoon back in place and fully functional. Mr Dahlenburg says staff have been working hard to make progress on the issues, especially given the community use of, and investment in, the pontoon.
Contact Acting Parks Manager on 03 477 4000.
DCC Link
Thu, 19 May 2016
ODT: Plans for facility go to ORC
A proposal submission includes plans for a two-storey, $750,000 coastguard operations centre over the water at Portobello and space for a new $1.2million boat. Phase one has been completed and includes a new jetty. A new boat ramp is to be built. A slipway for the new vessel would be developed in conjunction with construction of the new building, as part of phase two. Phase three would cover the completion of the building, including space for the boat and room for the Portobello Yacht Club. The top floor would house an operations room, training and seminar room and kitchen-bathroom facilities.
Report – FSD – 09/02/2012 (PDF, 348.8 KB)
Waipori Fund – Report for Quarter Ending December 2011
Tut tut, Elizabeth. Members of the community work, large numbers of them in paid employment, and the council works too, finding ways to empty their pockets by energetic racking-up of rates, parking fees, tip charges etc etc. That’s partnership isn’t it?
[sound of H O’T’s running feet a la Goon Show]
If you’re lucky Hype, Dave Cull might care a sausage.
In the context of the Waipori Fund, councillors reveal they’re not prepared to reduce staff numbers. The council is in debt to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, yet councillors want to ‘cotton-wool’ the staff – many of whom have contributed knowingly to the parlous state of the council books and the good citizens’ inability to view actual budgets and expenditures.
The councillors are fully incompetent. Their signals for possible changes to the Waipori Fund should be monitored closely.
—
### ODT Online Sat, 11 Feb 2012
Waipori fund policy change mood evident
By David Loughrey
Policy changes could be in store for the $67.6 million Waipori fund, which provides an annual cash return to the Dunedin City Council. A mood for change was evident among some councillors during an extended debate on the matter on Thursday, but not enough to stop taking dividends, an action it was estimated would cost the city more than $3 million a year. That outcome was pushed by Cr Lee Vandervis, who, asked how he would make up the money, said one way would be to get rid of staff.
Read more
I predict Cr Vandervis will attract a lot more voter support next election.
Something needs to happen now. The greedy bastards are after the assets and anything with a residual value left in it. And they know they’re running out of time. They’ve got the gutless and self-serving councillors and executive lined up where they’re wanted, now they just need them and the media to line up the story to created the events required to sell off our future. Then the city will be irrevocably gutted. You can’t hope with this government – look at what they’re doing to our country in the name of this or that.
With regard to the failed Portobello Pontoon, I think that the designers of the project, Spiire, are the former Duffill Watts & King, whom we all fondly remember from the St Clair seawall. You have to admire their consistency.
When you screw up just change your name. Raising one’s level of competence is so last century. I am going to be Brigadier Doris Arrm-Wresstler next time but don’t bother asking me what cockups I’ve made because I ain’t admitting to any of them.