In March, a letter to the editor (ODT, 24.3.12) by Cr Lee Vandervis raised questions to which ORFU’s Wayne Graham gave a nothing reply. Indeed, we’d all been wondering what ORFU’s extra debt of $80,000 to DCC stood for, to be written off in the bailout package. We had heard an ORFU party at the stadium was part responsible (comment). It was not long before an official information request went to Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML) from one of our readers. Related comments on the thread start here.
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This is totally inappropriate spending of public money. -Bev Butler
### D Scene 2.5.12 (page 3)
Stadium booze tab picked up by ratepayers
By Wilma McCorkindale
An Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) party and booze bill in excess of $25,000 is among debts written off in a bailout of the cash-strapped organisation by Dunedin Venues Management (DVML) and the Dunedin City Council (DCC), according to stadium opponent Bev Butler […] she obtained copies of the offending invoices through an official information request. “[I was] shocked to learn that [an] ORFU party was part of the ORFU bailout. On August 5 last year the ORFU held a Black Tie dinner at the stadium. The expenses, including thousands of dollars on booze was put on hock.” Butler said among the paperwork obtained was a response from DVML showing the ORFU owed DVML $73,164 excluding GST or $84,140 including GST. “This was for the black tie dinner on August 5, 2011. All the figures are blacked out but I do know from DVML that the Black Tie dinner was $25,352 (incl GST).”
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May 2, 2012 at 3:31 pm
UPDATE- See this thread for news and reaction to the defamation action taken against the Mayor of Dunedin by two members of the ORFU Board, acting on their own account. We think the ‘dinner tab’ story puts the defamation action in a handsome light. God only knows what the action does to the ORFU bailout deal, supposedly to be wrapped up by 16 May.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 