DCC LTAP 2016/17 budget discussion #ultrahelpfulhints

ODT 19.1.16 (page 6)

Comment at ODT Online:

Still on about ‘rising ground water’
Submitted by flatout on Thu, 21/01/2016 – 8:05am.

When will you…Dave…and the council admit it was a lack of mainenance that caused the flooding in Dunedin? Stop blaming climate change and rising ground water. Stop talking about high cost plans of moving South Dunedin and buying properties. Stop your endless council staff meetings about the issue of ‘what to do with South Dunedin’. Do maintenance on the stormwater. Do invest in South Dunedin to keep it a place to live and work in. All you need to do is clear drains and stormwater system that has coped with worse floods in the past…1968 for example.

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REMOVE THE IRRITANT

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC low lifes #RugbyDebtStadium

Huh? Huh?

The council is increasing the capital of its investment company by $850m. (Ch39)

### dunedintv.co.nz June 30, 2015 – 7:24pm
DCC takes ownership of Dunedin Venues Limited
City councillors have voted for the organisation to take on an extra $30m of debt. That’s being transferred today from Dunedin Venues Limited. Councillors have also approved the equivalent payment of DVL shares, to repay the debt. And they’ve voted for the council to take ownership of the company, as well as Dunedin Venues Management Limited, for the new financial year.
Ch39 Link [no video available]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Citifleet COVERUP #screwy

Police have decided no-one will be charged after the Citifleet investigation. –39 Dunedin News

Read tomorrow’s Otago Daily Times.

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Only +152 city council fleet vehicles went west, car parts, tyres, kickback auto services, and just one man died.

HE DID IT. Ain’t it cosy.

█ For more, enter the terms *citifleet*, *bachop*, *bidrose* or *vandervis* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

What Audit NZ really says in DCC LTP consultation document (March 2015)

Contrary to ODT’s limited reporting picked up by JimmyJones at the previous post…. $95 million is the figure to be concerned about. Read on.

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DUNEDIN CITY COUNCIL
█ Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25 Consultation Document
Adopted 24 March 2015

From Audit New Zealand’s Ian Lothian:
(see LTP Consultation Document, pages 43-44)

█ More on Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25 at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/draft-long-term-plan-2015-2016

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Related Posts and Comments:
19.5.15 DCC LTP must meet $68M budget shortfall over next decade
19.5.15 Mosgiel pool trust conflicts of interest #bigfishsmallpond
19.5.15 Ode to sickly DCC
18.5.15 DCC laundering – wring out Regent Theatre Trust, pump DVML
18.5.15 NEWSFLASH —Mosgiel pool, tracking [PONT]….
17.5.15 Cr Vandervis on DCC project budgets
● 7.5.15 DCC Draft LTP 2015/16-2024/25 —public submissions online
28.3.15 DCC Draft LTP 2015/16 to 2024/25 —CONSULTATION OPEN
25.3.15 DCC Long Term Plan: Green-dyed chickens home to roost
14.1.15 DCC Draft Long Term Plan: more inanity from Cull’s crew pending

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Text image: whatifdunedin

DCC LTP must meet $68M budget shortfall over next decade

Updated post
Wed, 20 Mar 2015 at 6:41 p.m.

█ WOOPS, see JimmyJones at Comments and next post —it’s MUCH worse than $68 million….

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AUDIT NEW ZEALAND HAS REASON TO BE VIGILANT
—WHAT NEW POOL COMPLEX FOR MOSGIEL TAIERI ??

ODT: Council accused of being in denial over long-term plan (25.3.15)

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Related Post and Comments:
25.3.15 DCC Long Term Plan: Green-dyed chickens home to roost

█ For more, enter the terms *mosgiel*, *taieri*, *trust*, *pool*, *draft ltp* or *vandervis* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Text image: whatifdunedin

DCC laundering – wring out Regent Theatre Trust, pump DVML

Photo: Dunedin NZ

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Received from John Evans
Mon, 18 May 2015 at 5:29 p.m.

P26 ODT Saturday May 16.

In an article headed Stadium sound on agenda, included some apparent proposed changes for DVML, one being the stripping of the rights to sell DMVL venues from the Regent Theatre Trust, considered an anomaly by the DCC or DMVL or both.

The nett effects

1. Immediate reduction in income of $110,000 to the Regent Theatre Trust. However the DCC are going to suggest a donation of $110,000 as a grant to the trust (unearned).

2. An increase in staffing levels for DMVL (to sell the tickets).

3. No reduction in ratepayers’ costs.

4. A presumed increase in DMVL income (gross but not necessarily nett) DCC looks better in financial accounts (hopeful).

5. Lost opportunity costs (the recipient of the $110,000 if the DCC did not give it to the Regent trust).

This is what is called by forensic accountants, creative accounting.

Humans call it robbing Peter to pay Paul.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Audit NZ making up for previous huge inadequacies over DCC books ?

LONG PROVEN:
Audit NZ as CAVALIER, INCOMPETENT and CORRUPT as DCC with regards to stewardship and protection of Ratepayer Funds —in particular, Harland era to the present

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### ODT Online Fri, 20 Feb 2015
DCC censured by Audit NZ
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council been criticised by Audit New Zealand after “significantly” underperforming in the delivery of last year’s annual report. The rebuke came in Audit NZ’s annual audit report, which said the council had missed deadlines to deliver last year’s annual report to Audit NZ by “a significant margin”. The quality of the council’s annual report was also “clearly below an appropriate standard”, and internal quality review processes appeared to be lacking, Audit NZ said.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: Street talk NEVER HAPPENED

In which Dunedin ratepayer Jeff Dickie is made out to be a liar?

ODT 3.1.15 (page 30)

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Saturday night thoughts on disgrace and dark forces.

When did Cull’s highly individualised chip-on-shoulder naysaying campaign start; this would be located well outside DCC Comms’ advice, wethinks.

Nowadays, how many Dunedin ratepayers and residents are “absolutely right” in how they view Dunedin City Council and the way it is operating. Citifleet is a mighty nail in the council coffin, surely.

ONE MAN alone is not the guilty PARTY.
ONE MAN is dead.

It’s disgusting, indecent and despicable that COUNCIL leaders are preying on the deceased, at their own convenience.

2015. Let individual histories and emerging evidence tell the real story against the mayor and chief executive’s ‘party line’ for Brent Bachop.

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Related Posts and Comments:
29.12.14 DCC gets QLDC talent…. the weft and warp deviously weaves
25.12.14 Daaave stole Christmas from #DUD
● 24.12.14 Dunedin: Watching the detectives
23.12.14 Our Leaders: if commonalities
● 19.12.14 DCC: Limited Citifleet investigation about insurance
19.12.14 Vandervis: Deloitte and Police Citifleet investigations
19.12.14 DCC Citifleet by email . . . . woops! (another timeline proof)
● 18.12.14 DCC: Deloitte report released on Citifleet #whitewash
22.11.14 ODT puffery for stadium rousing ? [Sue Bidrose profiled]
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
● 19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
24.10.14 DCC Citifleet, more revelations….
21.10.14 DCC Citifleet, undetectable….
13.10.14 DCC: Consulting the Community
● 19.9.14 Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem to launch post-election inquiry
8.9.14 Jim Harland and the stadium MESS
3.9.14 Stuff: Dunedin council CEO won’t resign
1.9.14 DCC Fraud: Further official information in reply to Cr Vandervis
30.8.14 DCC Fraud: Cr Vandervis states urgent need for facts….
● 28.8.14 DCC: Tony Avery resigns
27.8.14 DCC whitewash on serious fraud, steals democracy from citizens
26.8.14 DCC: Forensics for kids
23.8.14 DCC public finance forum 12.8.14 (ten slides)
22.8.14 DCC: Deloitte report referred to the police #Citifleet
6.8.14 DCC tightens policy + Auditor-General’s facetious comments
3.7.14 Stuff: Alleged vehicle fraud at DCC
1.7.14 DCC: Far-reaching fraud investigation Citifleet
● 18.6.14 Crowe Horwath Report (May 2014) – Review of DVML Expenses
3.6.14 DCC unit under investigation
2.5.14 DCC $tar-ship enterprise
28.4.14 DCC loses City Property manager in restructuring
● 20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass… [stadium review announced]
28.12.13 Sue Bidrose, DCC Chief Executive
18.11.13 DCC: New chief executive
7.2.12 DCC ‘money go round’ embedded

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Auditor-general Lyn Provost #Resign

Link + message received from Anonymous
Wed, 26 Nov 2014 at 11:53 p.m.

Message: What unbelievable crap from Lyn Provost, given her office (OAG) has brushed aside so many public complaints and concerns about Council expenditure that may have prevented the situation she now chooses to alert us all to !!!!

________________________________

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 12:39 26/11/2014
Lax councils $7 billion behind in infrastructure
–Dominion Post
Ratepayers are facing a $7 billion bill to replace crumbling roads and water pipes caused, in part, by the “worry about it later” attitude of councils. A report released yesterday by Auditor-General Lyn Provost found councils nationwide have been failing to put enough money aside to maintain their collective $100b of infrastructure assets. The gap between funds needed and reality is tipped to reach $6b to $7b by 2020. Much of the country’s infrastructure was built in two waves, from 1910-30 and 1950-86, and many assets would reach the end of their lives at the same time, the report warned.

“They are storing up a problem for future generations, ” said Bruce Robertson, assistant auditor-general in charge of local government. Will councils step up and deal transparently and effectively with these issues?”

Keeping rates bills down to maintain political popularity was one reason assets were underfunded, and a “worry about it later” mentality also existed, the report stated.[…] Local Government NZ president Lawrence Yule said a $7b shortfall was significant, but it was too early for ratepayers to be pressing the panic button. It was not yet clear how accurate the auditor-general’s findings were, he said.
Read more

Note: These last years Lawrence Yule has been publicising how bloody good debt-funding council activities is. WTF

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████ Report 7 Nov 2014:
Auditor-General’s overview and conclusions
Water and roads: Funding and management challenges
New Zealand has a good reputation internationally for managing assets because of the work of groups such as New Zealand Asset Management Support (NAMS). However, many local authorities’ asset management practices fall short of asset management guidance, such as that developed by NAMS. This report suggests that local authorities need to better understand the local economy to plan for the longer term and that their management of infrastructure and capital needs to improve to meet the challenges ahead. Full Report

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Related Posts and Comments:
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
10.10.14 Cull consorts with losers at LGNZ
9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech
26.8.14 DCC: Forensics for kids
6.8.14 DCC tightens policy + Auditor-General’s facetious comments
15.7.14 Stadium: Who is being protected?
26.6.14 LGNZ #blaggardliars
31.3.14 Audit services to … local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG ● LynProvost
20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General
7.3.14 Jeff Dickie: Letter to the Auditor-General Lyn Provost
2.2.14 Stadium: ODT editorial (1.2.14) —Garbutt debunks myths
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
28.5.13 Carisbrook: Auditor-General #fails Dunedin residents and ratepayers
21.4.13 Councils “in schtook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
31.3.13 DIA and Office of the Auditor General stuff up bigtime #pokierorts
6.3.13 Carisbrook: Cr Vandervis elaborates
15.2.13 Carisbrook: Call for OAG investigation into DCC / ORFU deals
22.11.12 Cull COVERS UP COUNCIL #massage

For more, enter the terms *dcc*, *dchl*, *dvml*, *citifleet*, *stadium*, *carisbrook*, *delta* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Harland to scale

[zoom text with Ctrl + and Ctrl -]

█ Ten years ago. Whoever typed THAT ?

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Related Post and Comments:
8.9.14 Jim Harland and the stadium MESS
27.6.14 Stadium costs $23.4144 million per annum
2.6.14 Stadium costs ballpark at $21.337 million pa, Butler & Oaten
23.5.14 Stadium | DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 ● Benson-Pope asserts…
9.5.14 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 Submission by Bev Butler
10.4.14 Stadium: Edgar’s $1m donation (private sector fundraising)

For more, enter the terms *harland*, *farry*, *malcolm*, *athol*, *stadium*, *dcc*, *cst*, *dchl*, *dvml*, *orfu* or *rugby* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Jim Harland and Sukhi Turner (via ODT 2.6.04) – supplied by Calvin Oaten

Jim Harland and the stadium MESS

Meanwhile, as Mayor Dave Cull’s council keeps up with massive spending on low priorities and unnecessaries, this comes to light:—

### ODT Online Mon, 8 Sep 2014
Stadium budget help was declined
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council declined an offer of specialist help to keep its Forsyth Barr Stadium budget on track, years before the cost jumped by millions of dollars, it has been confirmed. The decision, revealed in an Audit New Zealand report from 2010, has been criticised by Mayor Dave Cull, who said it was “a function of the attitude of the management and the executive at the time”. Former council chief executive Jim Harland defends the decision, saying the council’s oversight was felt at the time to be “appropriate”. The offer was detailed in the Audit NZ annual report to the council, dated December 2010, which covered the 12-month period to June 30 that year.
Read more

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The decision to build a debt-funded stadium – of which Jim Harland, Malcolm Farry, Athol Stephens, DCC stadium councillors, ORC stadium councillors, and professional rugby cronies are GUILTY – was ALWAYS the decision to bankrupt the Dunedin City Council but more especially, and insidiously, the ratepayers and residents of ‘greater’ Dunedin and Otago.¹

The Audit NZ offer was INANE and in any case a complete waste of time.
Audit NZ is what it is, a basket case. Of sheer incompetence and hypocrisy, nationwide.

Time for a full independent forensic audit of the Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust, fondly known as CST, headed by Malcolm Farry. This will also entail an intimate look at the way Dunedin City Council treated CST invoices, the Council’s spending delegations, and its chief signatories.

Let’s hope somebody goes to clink before the accounting games are over.
___________________________
¹Only now are Otago power users waking up to the fact of high line charges being levied by Aurora Energy Ltd to fund subvention payments to ‘the stadium’ (see recent letters to the editor in the Otago Daily Times).
Did the killer consolidated DCC think the people of Otago wouldn’t notice?

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Related Post and Comments:
27.6.14 Stadium costs $23.4144 million per annum
2.6.14 Stadium costs ballpark at $21.337 million pa, Butler & Oaten
23.5.14 Stadium | DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 ● Benson-Pope asserts…
9.5.14 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 Submission by Bev Butler
10.4.14 Stadium: Edgar’s $1m donation (private sector fundraising)

For more, enter the terms *harland*, *farry*, *malcolm*, *athol*, *stadium*, *dcc*, *cst*, *dchl*, *dvml*, *orfu* or *rugby* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: odt.co.nz (re-imaged by whatifdunedin) – Jim Harland

DCC: Forensics for kids

Fairfax Media has obtained Audit NZ letters of management to the DCC from 2005 to 2012, released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act. The letters show that in the years 2007-2010 auditors consistently urged the DCC to tighten up its risk-management policies and processes.

Audit NZ expressed concern over what it indicated could be inadequate controls over several internal processes, including verifying signatures of those authorised to sign invoices and purchase orders, independent review of creditor files, and controls of sensitive areas such as sale of council assets to staff. (Fairfax)

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 08:17 26/08/2014
Dunedin council officers ‘not kids’
By Wilma McCorkindale
The Dunedin City Council (DCC) appears to have ignored calls by Audit New Zealand to improve its risk and fraud processes, saying its officers were “supposedly people with integrity … not kids”.

The DCC revealed in June it was investigating a suspected major fraud within its Citifleet unit. The fraud was suspected to have been carried out over a decade. Citifleet team leader Brent Bachop died suddenly in May. His death has been referred to the coroner. Council chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose said the alleged fraud of $1.5 million included alleged illegal transactions resulting in the loss of profits from the sale of 123 council fleet vehicles. The findings have been passed to the Dunedin police for further investigation.

Fairfax Media has obtained Audit NZ letters of management to the DCC from 2005 to 2012, released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act. The letters show that in the years 2007-2010 auditors consistently urged the DCC to tighten up its risk-management policies and processes. It appears Audit NZ was compelled to repeat similar advice over the period and noted the DCC met only minimum requirements.

Council managers’ response to the Audit NZ findings in 2010 was to say the council had considered creating an audit and risk committee but concluded its finance and strategy committee adequately performed the role. In December 2010 Audit NZ raised the issue of reviews of areas “susceptible to fraud”, but management commented that specific audits in the “most sensitive areas” had found “no transactions of concern or deficiencies in controls”.
Read more

Five council staff were involved in “employment processes”, with some facing the prospect of losing their jobs, the ODT understands.

[Irony] Local Government New Zealand president Lawrence Yule yesterday told the ODT the “mind-boggling” alleged fraud was the biggest involving a local authority he could recall.

### ODT Online Tue, 26 Aug 2014
Council overlooked audit advice
By Chris Morris
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull concedes a chance to detect the alleged $1.5 million Citifleet fraud may have been missed, after the council twice overlooked advice from Audit New Zealand. The revelation came in Audit New Zealand’s annual reports to the council, obtained by the Otago Daily Times, which highlighted gaps in council processes dating back to 2003. […] The findings have triggered finger-pointing between past and present council staff, councillors and Audit NZ, but council chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose said responsibility for failing to detect the alleged fraud rested with the council.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
23.8.14 DCC public finance forum 12.8.14 (ten slides)
6.8.14 DCC tightens policy + Auditor-General’s facetious comments
3.7.14 Stuff: Alleged vehicle fraud at DCC
1.7.14 DCC: Far-reaching fraud investigation Citifleet
3.6.14 DCC unit under investigation
2.5.14 DCC $tar-ship enterprise
28.4.14 DCC loses City Property manager in restructuring
7.2.12 DCC ‘money go round’ embedded

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images (tweaked by whatifdunedin): tmba.tv – Tim McGarvey: 3D forensic animation (TMBA Inc. Animation Studio, New York City); scottthornbury.wordpress.com – F is for forensics (illustration by Quentin Blake, from Broughton, G. (1968) Success With English. Harmondsworth: Penguin)

Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG ● LynProvost

Typically, local government pays Audit New Zealand to audit and review annual financial statements. It’s a tame, tick-box sort of exercise. Audit NZ does a remarkably poor job and is certainly not in it to protect the Community from institutional or corporate misuse of public funds, or indeed from what amounts to perversion or defeat of the course of justice.

Audit NZ is paid handsomely to not see failures of tansparency and non-accountability — such that the enlightened Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association (MRRA) has had Audit NZ sacked from providing audit services to Kaipara District Council.

In an opinion piece last week at Otago Daily Times, City ratepayers let down again, Russell Garbutt cleverly and succinctly summarised the depth of the problem with the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) investigation into Delta Utility Services Ltd. He also noted: “It may seem strange, but if a local government body goes feral, the body which investigates this and the one which provided audit services to that local body are both business units of the Auditor-General.”

Dunedin City Council (DCC) has ‘overseen’ the Auditor-General’s probe into property purchases at Luggate and Jacks Point by Delta Utility Services Ltd, which also involved the council’s holding company (DCHL). A more scandalous, politically slant and irresponsible report from a Government agency it would be difficult to imagine.

(Thank-you, Mayor Dave Cull and the individual Stuart McLaughlan.)

Criminally, the OAG’s Delta report is what passes for ‘honest and comprehensive’ investigation of fraud and corruption in New Zealand… such that the main Delta complainant, Cr Lee Vandervis of Dunedin City, who holds evidence obtained from over 350 emails, was NOT interviewed by the Auditor-General. Nor was his evidence examined.

The fact that for years Audit NZ has refrained from investigating or bringing attention to underhand dealings of the DCC and with respect to DCHL, Delta, Aurora, and Dunedin City Treasury Ltd (DCTL), to identify just some of the ‘group companies’ involved in financial mayhem with public funds, is fully SYMPTOMATIC.

And now we have DCC — and DCHL (again) — in relationship with Dunedin Venues Management Ltd, tied directly to Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and The Highlanders through shared staff and facilities at the Stadium, and the facilities at Logan Park. Meaning that DCC continues to squander millions and millions of dollars of public funds each year, yet Audit NZ is nowhere to be seen under ‘the Roof’. Don’t mention the black hole, Carisbrook.

█ Inquiry into property investments by Delta Utility Services Limited at Luggate and Jacks Point. The Auditor-General’s Overview and Full Report are available at http://www.oag.govt.nz/reports/2014/delta

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WHERE TO FROM HERE ???
In yesterday’s Business section of the Sunday Star-Times came inklings of hope that the tide of fraud and corruption created by local bodies and ‘their mates’ is up for possible scrutiny through a change of legislation. Greater public and professional awareness of fraud by local councils and their companies (as well as private trusts and other means used to launder public monies) is coming to bear.

[Message to ALL: Those of us working quietly away to expose Dunedin City Council and Otago Rugby will never give up in a month of Sundays.]

SST Business 30.3.14 (page D5)

****

NEWS: SFO has got into Mighty River Power and there are ‘reasons’ for non-disclosure of MRP fraud to the NZX…

A consultant says:

The following article goes on to cite other cases, one from last year mentions two men sentenced to prison and home detention following the payment of $849,000 in council funds for road and berm projects that were never completed.

█ Think DELTA, think AURORA, think DCC, think DCHL, think DCTL, think CWP, think CST (CSCT), think DVML…

█ Think of the individuals you know by name who fail to be prudent and conservative with Dunedin Ratepayer and Resident monies, whose actions (deliberate or otherwise) have been fraudulent and corrupt.

█ These entities and the individuals you know by name have been aided and abetted by Audit New Zealand, the Office of the Auditor-General, the Department of Internal Affairs, and indeed the Serious Fraud Office which doesn’t always show a clean pair of hands in assisting investigations by other Government agencies — if ‘supervised by’ mayors, local body politicians, local body employees, Members of Parliament, and Ministers of the Crown.

Welcome to the underbelly of New Zealand local government and the parties it pleases. STEAL from the poor to FATTEN the rich, by any means. Backed by Central Government.

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SST Business 30.3.14 (pages D1 and D8) [click to enlarge]

*Links to articles not yet available at Stuff.co.nz.

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Related Posts and Comments:
30.3.14 Paul Pope on local body annual plans
27.3.14 Jeff Dickie: Letter to the Auditor-General Lyn Provost
25.3.14 Delta blues . . . and Easy Rider
20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General
14.3.14 Delta: Mayor ignores Cr Vandervis’ official complaint
22.3.14 DVML, ‘Money for jam…..fig jam’
19.3.14 ORFU: Black-tie dinner, theft or fraud?
17.3.14 ORFU: Black-tie dinner on ratepayers

For more, enter the terms *carisbrook*, *cst*, *cull*, *cycle*, *dcc*, *delta*, *dia*, *draft annual plan*, *dvml*, *farry*, *orfu*, *nzru*, *pokie rort*, *pokies*, and *stadium* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Jeff Dickie: Letter to the Auditor-General Lyn Provost

Received.
Thursday, March 27, 2014  at 10:47 AM

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Lyn Provost
Controller and Auditor General
Office of the Auditor General
Thorndon
Wellington

Dear Lyn, your shameful handing of the inquiry into Dunedin City Council subsidiary Delta’s acquisition of land at Jacks Point and Luggate is both unprofessional and an insult to Justice and Democracy in NZ. You personally have done a massive disservice to the 53,000 ratepayers of Dunedin.

Your very selective choice of “evidence”, and general lack of thoroughly seeking evidence, has amounted to a complete whitewash for the individuals under investigation. Why, for example did you choose to competely ignore Councillor Lee Vandervis’ extensive evidence?

Your conclusions of unsound business practices are completely at odds with failing to note the massive conflicts of interest, personal gain and any notion of personal accountability.

Further, your ham-fisted and gutless handling of this inquiry has been a complete waste of time and public money. You have been a lackey and have orchestrated the sort of politically motivated sham one would expect from Russia or North Korea. You should resign.

JEFF DICKIE

[ends]

Individual letters may be sent to:
Lyn Provost
Controller and Auditor-General
Office of the Auditor-General
04 917 1500
100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon
PO Box 3928, Wellington 6140
lyn.provost@oag.govt.nz

OAG | Our people: http://www.oag.govt.nz/our-people
OAG | Contact us: http://www.oag.govt.nz/contact-us

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Dunedin City Council critic Russell Garbutt reacts to the recently released report by the Office of the Auditor-general on Delta’s move into property development.

### ODT Online Thu, 27 Mar 2014
Opinion: City ratepayers let down again
By Russell Garbutt
I have two major concerns. The first is the quality of the report and the second is that of a lack of accountability – particularly on the part of directors of council companies.
Audit NZ provides audit services to many local bodies, but the fact is the Local Government Act 2002 gave councils the power of ”general competence” – sweeping powers to undertake many projects or actions.
At the same time, the Office of the Auditor-general (OAG) provides investigative services such as this report into the actions of Delta.
It may seem strange, but if a local government body goes feral, the body which investigates this and the one which provided audit services to that local body are both business units of the Auditor-general.
So, bearing that in mind, what has the OAG found about the dealings of Delta and its foray into property development? It found the actions of Delta and its directors and the directors of council umbrella company Dunedin City Holdings Ltd (DCHL) as well as the actions of the Dunedin city councillors at the time were such that ”expensive lessons were learned”.
This is corporate gobbledygook for saying this was a gigantic cock-up.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
25.3.14 Delta blues . . . and Easy Rider
20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General
14.3.14 Delta: Mayor ignores Cr Vandervis’ official complaint

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!

Received from Martin Legge
Saturday, 29 June 2013 9:53 a.m.

Learn how the Kaipara council was repeatedly given a clean bill of health by Audit NZ despite the massive debt and obvious governance problems.

Compares with how OAG assured me they were closely monitoring the TTCF investigation into how it was that ORFU and Racing were able to fleece $7 million from the South Auckland community. The truth is, DIA lost that file and therefore didn’t investigate and instead deliberately covered the loss up. OAG appear OK with this and issued DIA with a clean bill of health.

Our trust and faith in the work of these well resourced “highly educated desk jockeys” is misplaced!!!

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### NZ Herald Online Saturday, 29 Jun 2013 8:48 AM
Fresh probe begins into debt-ridden council
By Andrew Laxon
The commissioners of debt-ridden Kaipara District Council have begun a new inquiry into its past financial decisions, including the advice it received from former chief executive Jack McKerchar. The tiny Northland council is struggling under an $80 million debt, a long-running rates strike and court action by its own ratepayers over more than $17 million of illegally set rates dating back to 2006. Its former councillors stepped down last year in response to a damning report, making way for Government-appointed commissioners.

Three inquiries are under way into what went wrong. They consist of

● An Auditor-General’s investigation into how the cost of a sewerage scheme at Mangawhai blew out from $11 million in 1999 to $62 million, creating most of the council’s debt.
● An independent inquiry into how the Audit Office failed to notice the excessive debt and repeatedly gave the council a clean bill of health.
● The commissioners’ investigation into other financial transactions they have discovered since taking over last September and see as questionable.

Northland MP Mike Sabin told Parliament ratepayers had been woefully let down by the council’s “mismanagement, incompetence, carelessness and dysfunctional governance”. Mr Sabin, who is sponsoring a local bill to retrospectively validate the illegal rates, said the bill was necessary to keep the council functioning but it would not allow anyone responsible for poor decisions to duck the consequences.
The separate inquiry into the Audit Office’s actions, undertaken by Auditing and Assurance Standards Board chairman Neil Cherry, was not finished.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
31.3.13 DIA and OAG stuff up bigtime #pokierorts
21.2.13 DIA, SFO investigation #pokierorts
3.11.12 Stadium: DCC caught in headlights
29.10.12 DCC consolidated debt substantially more than $616m
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Audit NZ true but pale in delivery?

### ODT Online Thu, 14 Jun 2012
Audit NZ warns of risks from debt, stadium
By Chris Morris
Rates hikes, increased debt levels or cuts to services remain a risk for the Dunedin City Council as it grapples with uncertainty over the Forsyth Barr Stadium, Audit New Zealand warns. The assessment came in two Audit NZ reports presented to the council’s finance, strategy and development committee yesterday. One report studied the council’s draft long-term plan for the next decade, to 2022, while the other scrutinised the council’s performance in the year to June 30, 2011.

Audit director Ian Lothian, in his long-term report, said council assumptions the stadium would cover its own costs and ensure rates were not affected remained a “high financial risk” to the council’s plans.

Stadium revenue projections were “as yet unproven”, dependent on income from rentals and sponsorships, and “still … a big assumption”, Lothian warned. The near-liquidation of the Otago Rugby Football Union highlighted the risks inherent in the stadium investment, he said.
Read more

Report – FSD – 13/06/2012 (PDF, 1.1 MB)
Management Report from Audit New Zealand – Long Term Plan
Report – FSD – 13/06/2012 (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Management Report from Audit New Zealand – Year Ended 30 June 2011

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The council fiasco widens. Keep indulging professional rugby (HPSNZ) why not.

### ODT Online Thu, 14 Jun 2012
Council to retain building
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council has moved to retain direct ownership of High Performance Sport New Zealand’s Dunedin base. The move would see the council retain ownership of the $5.1 million building at Forsyth Barr Stadium, together with the land it sat on, worth $1.71 million. The council transferred the land to Dunedin Venues Ltd last year, and was to do the same with the building this month.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC $764,000 in the red

Timing is everything. The audit didn’t consider some of the issues [including stadium budget issues] that had caused ratepayer concern, such as the level of debt the council was carrying.

### ODT Online Fri, 16 Oct 2009
Audit NZ gives DCC a tick of approval
By David Loughrey
The Dunedin City Council ended the 2008-09 financial year $764,000 in the red, well down from an expected surplus of more than $18 million.
Read more

### ODT Online Fri, 16/10/2009 – 9:35am.
Comment by MDownes on DCC audit
So, the DCC is more than $18,764,000 out of pocket at the end of the financial year compared to what was expected and Audit NZ gives them a tick of approval? This financial outcome has been purely self-inflicted due to the new stadium with resulting sky-rocketing debt. To think the council gets a pat on the back for this shameful performance. You can get away with anything these days…

### ODT Online Fri, 16 Oct 2009
Revival lifts Waipori fund $3.5 million
By David Loughrey
A more buoyant economy in New Zealand and Australia has helped the Dunedin City Council’s Waipori fund claw back $3.5 million of its value, following hits the fund took during the recession.
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Post by Elizabeth Kerr