——– Original message ——–
From: Bev Butler
Date: 27/10/2016 8:44 am (GMT+12:00)
To: Grady Cameron [Delta]
Cc: Sandy Graham [DCC], Elizabeth Kerr
Subject: URGENT LGOIMA request: DELTA stadium corporate box renewal
Thursday 27 October 2016
Dear Mr Cameron
The Forsyth Barr rugby stadium has now been open for over five years and as such the corporate boxes on a five year contract recently came up for renewal.
Given that Delta purchased a corporate box at $45,000 per annum, as outlined in your response below dated 1 July 2011, I request the following:
1. Has Delta renewed their corporate box contract for another five years?
2. If so, what is the new annual cost of Delta’s corporate box?
3. The name of those who made the decision to renew the corporate box contract.
4. A copy of all documents relating to the decision for Delta to renew their corporate box membership.
You have stated below:
“DELTA has a range of commercial sponsorship and advertising arrangements with organisations such as Otago Rugby Football Union, Alexandra Ice Skating Rink, ASB Otago Sports Awards and the arrangements are commercially sensitive between the parties.”
Given that you are claiming commercial sensitivity for declining to release the information re commercial sponsorship and advertising arrangements with the organisations mentioned above, I request the overall total amount Delta is paying in commercial sponsorships and advertising arrangements to the three organisations mentioned, namely the Otago Rugby Football Union, Alexandra Ice Skating Rink, ASB Otago Sports Awards.
Note that by releasing the total amount given to the three organisations, then the “commercial sensitivity” argument would not apply as none of the individual organisations would be able to be identified. A precedent has already been set with the Office of the Ombudsman in a previous complaint I made relating to stadium sponsorships.
The Ombudsman recommended release of the sponsorship information in totality so as not to interfere with the “commercial” arrangements.
I, therefore, expect full co-operation with this urgent request.
Yours sincerely
Bev Butler
———————————————
From: Grady Cameron [Delta]
To: Bev Butler
CC: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2011 16:53:34 +1200
Subject: LGOIMA request: DELTA budgets and stadium spending
Dear Bev
Thank you for your enquiry. I refer your questions below and provide the following responses.
DELTA’s Chief Financial Officer is unchanged and is Mr Stephen Wilson. The role of Chief Financial Officer is being advertised in advance of his planned retirement. The individual who approved the lounge membership application is no longer with DELTA and was not the Chief Financial Officer. As a point of clarification, the term “overzealous” that appeared in the Otago Daily Times report of 9 February was attributed to Mr David Davies and was not made by me.
1. DELTA has made approximately $50,000 of donations to outside organisations over the past three years linked to our Health & Safety related Charity Challenge. Organisations which benefited from these donations included, but were not limited, to:
Alexandra Scouts Group
Cancer Society
Otago SPCA
Otago Community Hospice
Make-A-Wish Foundation of NZ
St John Ambulance Service
Diabetes NZ Otago
In the past three years, DELTA employees have also participated in an annual Volunteers Day:
2011 – Salmon Hatchery spruce-up
2010 – Alexandra Kindergarten tidy-up
2009 – PACT House (Mosgiel) working bee
2. DELTA has a range of commercial sponsorship and advertising arrangements with organisations such as Otago Rugby Football Union, Alexandra Ice Skating Rink, ASB Otago Sports Awards and the arrangements are commercially sensitive between the parties.
3. a) No, DELTA has not spent or allocated any money, except for a corporate box at $45,000 per annum.
b) DELTA has successfully won and completed contracts for the Stadium project to the value of $4,039,267. These were secured under a [competitive] tender process operated by Hawkins Construction and Arrow International Limited.
c) DELTA is not a party to the Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract for construction of the Forsyth Barr Stadium. Accordingly, your question should be directed to Hawkins Construction or Arrow International Limited. DELTA does not hold any information in relation to the Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract.
4. DELTA’s budgets are contained in the Dunedin City Holdings Statements of Intents which were presented to the Dunedin City Council on 7 February 2011 and are publically available on the Dunedin City Council website at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/__data/assets/minutes_agenda/0006/166353/ma_fsd_r_dchl_2011_02_07.pdf . I have attached a copy for your information.
5. DELTA’s Annual Reports for the years ended 30 June 2010, 2009 and 2008 are publically (sic) available on the Dunedin City Council website at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/dunedin-city-holdings/delta-utility-services-ltd . I have attached copies of the Annual Reports as requested.
Delta Utility Services Ltd – Dunedin City Council
Delta Utility Services Limited is a multi-utility service contractor providing a range of electrical and other services to local authority and private sector clients.
[ends]
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
This post is offered in the public interest.
What if? Dunedin... 
Ringer questions and issues BEV! Well done!
$45,000 Another form of graft, baksheesh and basically BRIBES
Several years ago I was in a client’s corporate box at Carisbrook, and the Delta box was next door. People from the two boxes mingled over a few beers and a Delta staff member at the time told me the whole thing with Delta having a box was dodgy.
He said pro-rugby people in council wanted to shift large sums of ratepayer cash to Otago Rugby Union, but couldn’t do it directly, so they effectively laundered it via Delta.
He pointed out that Delta got zero benefit from sponsoring rugby, as they had virtually no retail services that would benefit from the association – the whole thing was just a way for dodgy people at council to steal ratepayer money, and give it to rugby.
Disappointing and concerning, photonz.
photonz, a few years ago not long after the ORFU ran off without paying the bill for the black-tie dinner at the stadium, Doug Harvey, former chairman of ORFU asked to meet with me. Russell Garbutt came along with me to the meeting. One of the things which was revealed at this meeting was that the ORFU need only sell 200 tickets per game to break even. I thought I had misunderstood what Doug was saying so asked Doug to clarify. Doug said the ORFU had been able to establish generous sponsorship and so they only needed to sell 200 tickets per game to break even. This was at the time when the ORFU were continuing to trade whilst knowing they were insolvent. Ratepayers will remember the council bailing them out.
I think it’s highly likely that we are continuing to bail them out – except this time it’s done through Delta’s back door.
I hope that every time a Delta employee gets a rugby ticket from their employer someone (Delta or the employee) is paying the IRD the income tax (at their high marginal rate) on that income …. these days they’ll also have to pay some kiwisaver, and ESCT, too ….
Actually looking more closely Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) rate is 49% however there’s a quarterly exemption per employee of $300 up to a max of $22,500 (funny thing about that number, over 2 quarters that’s exactly the cost to Delta of the box $45,000).
However DVML say the corporate boxes take a max of 24 people – for say 10 games a season that’s 240 people – 120/quarter – the nominal value of a box seat will be $187, any employee who goes more than twice a quarter means Delta will owe FBT – so if they are careful and a minimum of 120 employees can get corporate box tickets per year they won’t owe any FBT – on the other hand if the managers, bigwigs, board members go to more than 2 games they’ll start paying the IRD at 49%.
Some great questions for the FOIA might be:
– how many individual employees or board members of Delta received tickets to use the Delta corporate box at FBS in the 2015 tax year
– how many individual tickets to use the Delta corporate box at FBS were issued to employees or board members of Delta during the 2015 tax year
– how much Fringe Benefit Tax related to the use of the Delta corporate box at FBS by Delta employees or board members did Delta pay during the 2015 tax year.