DCC v LGNZ : questions about junkets and 2x dipping

Should Dunedin ratepayers and residents be worried about lack of performance at home.

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Message received.
Sat, 5 Aug 2017 at 8:04 p.m.

[begins]
Ratepayers of Dunedin must have mixed feelings now that their Mayor has been elected to the position of President of Local Government New Zealand. Mixed, as some estimates of the time necessary to undertake this onerous role seem to indicate about 3 days a week. Representing more than 70 local authorities certainly would seem to take that time at least, and much of that time will be out of Dunedin in lobbying central government. Some of the ratepayers may think that it might not be a bad thing to have the Mayor paying attention to matters out of Dunedin, but some may be thinking that he should be in Dunedin as much as possible to undertake what has been, and should be, a full-time role.  It’s not that there aren’t pressing matters to deal with. The crumbled Aurora network and the resultant huge borrowing by the DCC company to bring the network up to an acceptable standard, the sad state of much of the infrastructure which now includes the Taieri Plain, the problems of not having dividend payments from DCHL, the prospect of another ratepayer funded swimming pool at Mosgiel when the private funding dissipates, the issue of the hospital – the list goes on and on and on.

Many mayors of much smaller local governments view their role as a full-time one and some may even wonder if the previous President of Local Government, Lawrence Yule, had been paying a bit more attention to local matters then the horrific situation whereby his local ratepayers were supplied with dangerous drinking water could have been avoided. Who knows, but we do know that Mr Yule not only had the Presidency of Local Government in his mind, but he was also eyeing up ending up in central government as the local National Party member.

All those things aside some practical questions arise.

If the Mayor is now also working as a President of LGNZ for say, 3 days a week, does his remuneration as Mayor of the DCC get reduced on a pro-rata basis? Does the position of President of LGNZ also attract an honorarium?  If so, should a pro rata proportion of that be paid to the DCC to offset the lack of availability of the Mayor to attend to his DCC duties? Or does the Mayor simply add any honorarium of the LGNZ role to his income as Mayor? And what of the role of the Deputy Mayor of the DCC? Does increased responsibilities to this role because of the absence of the Mayor lead to an increased honorarium?

I do note that the Mayor intends embarking on a national road show/tour to introduce himself to the 70+ local government authorities that he now heads up. Let us hope that this showcasing of the Mayor’s profile is done at a time when it is convenient and appropriate to those that are paying his wages. And I wonder what advice and guidance he will be giving to Mayor Dalziel now that the pro-rugby lobby is winding up to provide a covered stadium in Christchurch? What interesting times we live in.

[ends]

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The Dunedin City Council Annual Plan 2017/18 indicates the Council will borrow an extra $100M during the next LTP period; this debt borrowing is fully separate to the Aurora Energy debt borrowing – and is not at all explained to the Ratepayers.

It was Cr Lee Vandervis who highlighted this massive extra borrowing at the full council meeting on 27 June 2017, when the council signed off (item 20) the 2017/18 Annual Plan. This query received No credible response from the mayor and councillors; or examination by the ODT reporter present.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCC hideous ‘Adam of your labours’

ODT 28.1.17 (page 30)

[phoneshot scribbled – click to enlarge]

DCC is rubbish governance.

Comparing the two territorial authorities, ORC and DCC, ODT says “the regional council has been a wiser council-company owner”.

Ain’t that the sheer truth with bells on, oversewn with screaming sirens and flashing red lights.

Stuff that up your blood-soaked jumper, Dunedin City Council.

DCC takes the knife to Ratepayers’ private wealth, there’s no sign of let up. Blunt force trauma, gushing blood and the decimated entrails of a city once thriving.

The squalid recent history of Dunedin City Council is one of incompetence and worse : failed schemes, massive overburden of debt, inability to prioritise, budget and project manage, crippling levels of deferred maintenance and upgrades for essential infrastructure, unprosecuted thefts, corruption in certain of the CCOs and serious questions about the holding company (last year, a ‘partial audit’), Otago power network assets burnt off (no safety and security of supply), a dead loss-making stadium and associated companies clawing $20million per annum off ratepayers (no valid explanation, just mindless spin), destruction of high class Taieri soils for housing sprawl initiated by city councillor with a private profit motive, trite succession of gormless city councillors lining own pockets/inflating egos at the council table – leaches and nematodes have more credibility. On it goes at DCC.

Otago Regional Council is debt free.

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### ODT Online Sat, 28 Jan 2017
Editorial: City and ORC merger unlikely
OPINION Any progress towards one or more unitary authorities in Otago will be difficult, largely because of the region’s geography. The Dunedin City Council this week ordered a report into a possible merger between it and the Otago Regional Council, and it would be surprising if proposals which might emerge make much headway with the Local Government Commission.
….Since 1988, the [ORC] has received a total of $148.9million in dividends and special payments from Port Otago. How the city must covet that cash. Given the city’s pressures on Delta/Aurora for dividends and the regional council’s hands-off attitude to the Port Company, it would seem, however, the regional council has been a wiser council-company owner.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Ode to sickly DCC

Received.
Tue, 19 May 2015 at 12:25 p.m.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Text image: whatifdunedin

Otago Regional Council + Dunedin buses

“We want to gauge the degree to which the community understand our role and how well they rate the services we deliver.” –Peter Bodeker

### ODT Online Thu, 10 Apr 2014
ORC to survey public
A phone and internet survey is to be undertaken to find out how much people know about the Otago Regional Council. A telephone survey of 900 people by Tauranga-based Key Research Group this month will be complemented by one on the council’s website. Council chief executive Peter Bodeker said the survey was the first of its kind for the council, which in the past had only surveyed its resource consent survey applicants.
Read more

www.orc.govt.nz

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### ODT Online Thu, 10 Apr 2014
Hawkins reveals ORC discussing city buses
By Chris Morris
The Otago Regional Council appears set to consider handing responsibility for Dunedin’s public transport network to the Dunedin City Council. However, ORC chairman Stephen Woodhead fired a shot across the bow of Dunedin’s City councillor Aaron Hawkins for prematurely revealing the move yesterday. Cr Hawkins, in a message posted on Facebook, announced the ORC would meet next Wednesday to consider ”a proposal to formally offer governance of public transport to the Dunedin City Council”.
Read more

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Can DCC afford to take on loss-making bus services?

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Related Posts and Comments:
24.11.11 Dunedin buses: ORC or DCC
29.11.10 Phillip Cole on Dunedin buses

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dear DCC: Dunedin’s [choke] $47M cycle network

Received from Lee Vandervis
Thursday, 18 July 2013 7:16 a.m.

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:09:10 +1200
To: Dave Cull, Mayor Cull, Kate Wilson, Colin Weatherall, Richard Thomson, Chris Staynes, Teresa Stevenson, Andrew Noone, Paul Hudson, Jinty MacTavish, Neil Collins, Fliss Butcher, Syd Brown, John Bezett, Bill Acklin, Lee Vandervis
Cc: Paul Orders, Sue Bidrose, Sandy Graham
Conversation: An inspiration for Cycling in Dunedin
Subject: Re: An inspiration for Cycling in Dunedin

Dear Councillors

This video link below to the Indianapolis new Cultural Cycle Trail has been sent to us by Mayor Cull as “an inspiration for Cycling In Dunedin”.

The salient points if you do not have 8 minutes to watch the whole video are:

1 – NO RATES OR TAX MONEY WAS USED TO PAY FOR IT! The whole US$63MILLION for the Indianapolis cultural trail was DONATED by philanthropy. [Like Eion Edgar’s $1 million donation to the stadium, but more so. – It actually happened, and 63 times.]

2 – It looks great with the ADDITION OF US$2MILLION of donated Art.

3 – From Wikipedia, – “Indianapolis’ population is 829,718. It is the 13th largest city in the United States, and one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States.”

4 – It is catering to only a few of their 800,000+, entirely financed by a much fewer hyper-rich philanthropists.

What does the Indianapolis Cycle Trail have in common with Dunedin’s proposed $47 million cycle network that our Mayor is getting all inspired about??

In short, nothing.
Absolutely nothing – a far removed and totally rich American dream.

Please do not be inspired to spend us even further into $600,000,000+ plus interest worth of debt for this ‘inspiration’.
The time to stop digging into more ratepayer debt was at least 3 years ago.

Cheers
Lee

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On 17/07/13 10:25 AM, “Dave Cull” wrote:

FYI
Spokes, and Hank and Robert in particular have been working very constructively with staff on the network plan. A great example of partnering up with the community. We are doing the same with the business people around Robert St to work out a win-win there too.

Dave

—————

From: Hank Weiss
Sent: Tuesday, 16 July 2013 4:58 p.m.
To: Dave Cull
Cc: Jinty MacTavish; Teresa Stevenson; Richard Thomson; Kate Wilson; Andrew Noone; Fliss Butcher
Subject: An inspiration for Cycling in Dunedin

Dave:

Here’s an 8 minute video, I hope you will consider sharing it with the rest of the Council. http://www.streetfilms.org/the-indianapolis-cultural-trail/

It’s a great idea and implementation success story from an unexpected U.S. City – Indianapolis. They turned the vision of an urban cycle track into a unique cultural celebration.

The best line: “We didn’t talk about this as an infrastructure project, we talked about it as a quality of life and an economic development project” (Brian Payne).

As you know very well, it’s not about catering to a few. With stories like this we might just swing and inspire all the Councillors along (well almost all)!

Thanks for being an inspiration yourself today, Dave. I am proud of the leadership on display from you and your colleagues.

—
Cordially,

Hank Weiss

—— End of Forwarded Message

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Related Posts and Comments:
8.7.13 Bloody $tupid cycleways and Cull’s electioneering . . .
28.3.13 DCC DAP 2013/14: Portobello Harington Point Road Improvements
26.2.13 DCC binge spending alert: Proposed South Dunedin cycle network
22.2.13 DCC: Council meeting agenda and reports for 25 February 2013
31.1.13 Who? 2010 electioneering

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Bloody $tupid cycleways and Cull’s electioneering . . .

### ODT Online Thu, 4 Jul 2013
DCC propose to close Roberts Street
By Carolyn McLean
OPINION Once again the DCC is bulldozing over strong public opinion to push through a proposal, which will only benefit a minority of people.
DCC are proposing to close Roberts Street at the foot of the overbridge on Wharf Street to allow a cycle track to be installed and improve safety in the area.

This proposal will have an extremely adverse affect on all businesses in this area and it appears that the needs of business owners are being sacrificed to the needs of cyclists.

At present there is a perfectly adequate cycle track, which follows the harbourside and avoids the Portsmouth Drive/Wharf Street traffic, but DCC thinks that an alternative route for cyclists should be a reality and seem prepared to ignore the opinions of affected businesses to pursue their goal. At least two meetings have now been held between DCC representatives and local business owners but still the DCC seem hell-bent on pursuing their objective of more cycle lanes with no consideration of how it affects anyone else. Dunedin city is already in the doldrums with businesses struggling in the wake of the world-wide recession and flow on affects from that. DCC should be encouraging local businesses instead of putting more obstacles in their way. This proposal needs to be stopped.
ODT Link

● Dunedin Cycling Routes [see map]
● Proposed Cycle Network [see maps and related information at this link]

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Related Posts and Comments:
28.3.13 DCC DAP 2013/14: Portobello Harington Point Road Improvements
26.2.13 DCC binge spending alert: Proposed South Dunedin cycle network
22.2.13 DCC: Council meeting agenda and reports for 25 February 2013
31.1.13 Who? 2010 electioneering

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: odt.co.nz – Dunedin cycling (detail); dunedin.govt.nz – Strategic Cycle Network Overview (detail)

DCC Annual Plan 2013/14

DCC IS PULLING THE WOOL OVER YOUR EYES, DUNEDIN

### ODT Online Tue, 25 Jun 2013
Rates rise of 4% adopted; staff efforts praised
By Chris Morris
There were words of praise, but also of caution, as the Dunedin City Council yesterday locked in a 4% rates rise for the coming financial year. Councillors at yesterday’s full council meeting voted to adopt the 2013-14 annual plan, and the 4% rates rise, after months of discussion, debate and public consultation. The changes would come into force on July 1, but prompted little further debate yesterday, as councillors instead praised chief executive Paul Orders and his staff for their efforts.

Confirmation of the budget meant a $400,000-a-year events attraction fund for Dunedin Venues Management Ltd, the company running Forsyth Barr Stadium, and other budget proposals were confirmed.

Finance, strategy and development committee chairman Cr Syd Brown said the increase included headroom within the budget. That had allowed debt repayments to be accelerated, saving the council millions in interest payments, while keeping the rates increase within the goal of no more than 4%. Without the debt repayments, the increase would have been closer to 2%, Cr Brown said. ”I think that’s a sterling effort by the chief executive and his staff and I think the city’s been well served,” he said.
Read more

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What is Cr Syd Brown really saying?

Is he saying the stadium debt, the council’s consolidated debt, the council’s lack of insurance for infrastructure, the seedy DCHL’s lack of traction, and DVL/DVML running significant losses requiring ‘unheard of’ ratepayer funds, is Okay and everything’s well in hand?

Or is he snide, skipping out of council before the engulfing mudslide hits, the one he’s made with help from the Good Old Boys.

Nothing like an old fox, or an old fool.
Syd Brown’s personal fortunes have been tidily aided by his position on council for the implementation of Taieri plan changes, council spending on ‘localised’ drainage, roading systems, and more. Then there are the persistent rumours about connections to pokie trusts and big brothers in racing and rugby. It’s not a clean slate.

Can you believe anything Syd Brown has to say about your council’s financial position? DCHL will soon report to councillors on the results of a review of its subsidiary companies. This will be interesting. Cr Richard Thomson opines that from the figures it appears the only way DCHL can meet its dividend payment forecasts will be by borrowing or selling assets, either of which would cause ”considerable concern”.

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Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 4.7 MB)
Dunedin City Council, 2013/14 Annual Plan for Adoption on 24 June 2013

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 72.5 KB)
Adoption of the Annual Plan 2013/14

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 703.3 KB)
Setting of Rates for 2013/14 Financial Year

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 26.6 KB)
Statements of Intent of DCHL Group Companies

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 306.1 KB)
Statement of Intent – Dunedin City Holdings Ltd

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 284.2 KB)
Statement of Intent – Aurora Energy Limited

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 251.0 KB)
Statement of Intent – Delta Utility Services Ltd

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 375.1 KB)
Statement of Intent – City Forests Ltd

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 351.4 KB)
Statement of Intent – Dunedin City Treasury Ltd

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 440.3 KB)
Statement of Intent – Taieri Gorge Railway Ltd

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 241.9 KB)
Statement of Intent – Dunedin International Airport Ltd

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 218.0 KB)
Statement of Intent – Dunedin Venues Limited

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 235.4 KB)
Statement of Intent – Dunedin Venues Management Ltd

Report – Council – 24/06/2013 (PDF, 728.7 KB)
Statement of Intent – Tourism Dunedin

Other reports tabled at yesterday’s meeting of the Dunedin City Council.

Related Post and Comments:
22.1.13 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2013/14 – ‘Liability Cull’ and council chasten for election year

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DScene: Dunedin needs “decisive leadership”

Register to read DScene online at
http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

### DScene 28 Nov 2012
Editorial
DCC needs to shape up (page 7)
By Mike Houlahan
Land transactions under investigation, illegal road building, a debt mountain, monumental building projects, possible credit downgrades. No, not some obscure Balkan country or African military dictatorship, but our home town. There is a vociferous body of opinion that Dunedin is going to hell in a hand cart and events of recent weeks have done nothing to persuade them otherwise.

Delta’s land transactions coming under Audit Office investigation, and a damning court verdict – which has seen Dunedin City Council cop a six-figure court costs order over the State Highway 88 realignment – follow an auditor’s report trying to establish the final cost of building the Forsyth Barr Stadium, and a controversial bailout of the Otago Rugby Union.

A “we will fight them on the beaches” opinion piece from Mayor Dave Cull last week sounded desperate. The announcement soon after from Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services that it had revised its outlook of Dunedin City Council from stable to negative made it look desperate, too. A negative outlook means a one-in-three chance of a credit downgrade in the next two years – unwelcome news for a city well in hock before it borrowed millions more to build the stadium.

The agency does offer a ray of hope – if the DCC’s budgets strengthen, as forecast, its rating could revert to stable. But having just stated doubts the DCC could achieve the financial targets in its long-term plan, Standard and Poor’s are going to take a lot of convincing all is well.

In response, Cull – sounding like a rugby captain before a test – said Dunedin “was up to the challenge of continued financial belt-tightening.” Sadly, in this comparison Dunedin is probably Scotland rather than the All Blacks. Quiet reassurance is no longer enough. If ratepayers are to have faith in the DCC as chamberlains of their assets, they will want to see decisive leadership.
#bookmark

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Annual Report to 30 June 2012 – borrowing and interpretation

DCC Annual Report (PDF, 1.1 MB)

Comments received.

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Mike
Submitted on 2012/11/18 at 12:48 pm
well spotted – so in essence DVML quietly borrowed an extra $8.5m and managed to transfer it to the DCC without incurring any tax because it was a ‘capital gain’ rather than a ‘dividend’

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Rob Hamlin
Submitted on 2012/11/18 at 2:07 am
Another little gem from the DCC annual accounts. A positive little Kimberly it is. Calvin Oaten and I found this little morsel from the sewers of local government yesterday and will now share it with you.

On page 132 it has a table of figures titled ‘Separately Disclosed Revenue’. One line entry towards the bottom is particularly interesting. The title is ‘Profit on sale of Stadium (2012)……. $8,480,000’. This profit appears in both ‘Core Council’ (DCC only) and ‘Consolidated’ (Council & DCHL) columns.

Initially, this seems like great news. We’ve sold the bloody thing and got eight and a half million dollars for it. But, as is always the case, things are not all as they appear.

Nearly sixty pages later, on page 188, we have the following sheet of gibberish:

“Sale of Forsyth Barr Stadium to Dunedin Venues Limited

On the 31 May 2012 the Council sold it’s [sic] interest in the stadium to a wholly owned subsidiary Dunedin Venues Limited. This was the culmination of a project spanning five years during which time the method of delivering the project changed and as a result there is a technical accounting surplus on disposal of $8,380,000. The following note is an explanation of these technical accounting issues.

Book Surplus on disposal of the stadium $ ‘000
Sale price 225,000
Capitalised stadium cost including interest 216,520
Surplus on sale of asset as per 2012 Annual Accounts 8,480
Less stadium costs written off to operations in 2007-2008 5,537
Plus stadium revenue included in operations in 2007-2008 (583)
Surplus on disposal 3,526

Book surplus on disposal of the stadium
The method of undertaking the stadium project changed over the years of the project. The accounting treatment always followed the method of project delivery and was audited as being the correct treatment at the time. In 2007–2008 year it was expected that the project would be delivered by a third party and that the Council expenditure was therefore operational. This resulted in $5,537,000 being correctly expensed in 2007–2008 year. In subsequent years once the decision was made that the Council would build the stadium, the expenditure was correctly capitalised. The surplus of $3,526,000 would remain as it is the difference between all the costs incurred by the Council and the sale proceeds received.”

Also on page 123 we have this note to one of the CCO fragmentary reports:

“CCO Property Plant and Equipment
All CCO property, plant and equipment is stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses.
The Stadium is a separate class of asset and is recorded at cost less any accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses.”

So what happened? Well, you may remember that the total cost of the Stadium came in at around $216.5 million. Then, last year the DCC acquired a ‘valuation’ for the Stadium (God knows how and God knows from who) of $225 million. Its commercially realisable value is in fact, as we all know, the commercial value of the site minus the costs of demolition and removal, which is as near zero as makes no difference.

However, it now appears that DVL then ‘bought’ the stadium from the DCC at this higher valuation. It is hard to see any good reason why they would do this, as the historical cost of the stadium itself was $216.5 million – this figure would have fitted well with their own policy for valuation in the note on page 123. As the structure was brand new when ‘bought’, a second valuation was unnecessary. The historical cost of construction would have been more than adequate as a transfer price.

However, it appears that this unnecessary valuation exercise and its absurd outcome has allowed a further $8.5 million to be transferred from DCHL to the DCC this year on top of the $17.95 million handed over as a dividend, for a total of $26.45 million. It can also be claimed now with a straight face that DVL are acting in accordance with their requirement to record assets at cost as $225 million is what they ‘paid’ for it!!

Now let’s deal with the gibberish on page 188, which covers the financial year 2007-2008 (presumably ending 1 April 2008). Apparently, this specific structure incurred over five and a half million dollars of costs and over half a million dollars of REVENUE!!! before it had been fully designed or even approved as a specific entity that the DCC was actually going to construct! The final approval came nearly a year later I seem to recall.

I personally find this reduction in this ‘accounting profit’ to be wholly incredible. I can also find no adjustments matching this $5 million or so in the costs side of the DCC’s figures – even though the $8.5 million extra revenue appears in its entirety. Mind you, in the 200 pages plus of fragmentary and largely useless figures, I guess that I could have missed it.

Page 13 is also interesting. It is entitled ‘Audit Report’. Properly audited accounts require a signed statement by the auditor to form part of them, stating that the auditor’s unqualified opinion that they are satisfied with the accounts – or a statement of their reservations (qualifications) if they are not.

Page 13 is blank (surprised?)

On page 1, we have the following statement:

“This report asks the Council to approve and adopt the Annual Report for the year ending 30 June 2012.

The Director of Audit New Zealand responsible for the audit and the Audit Manager will attend to discuss the audit and answer any questions from councillors.”

In my opinion this is utterly inadequate basis upon which to approve this report. It should not have been even presented to Council, let alone approved, without a complete auditor’s report being attached to it.

It seems that the Council will have to find $25 million plus in savings by next year just to tread water, and that’s if we don’t get any more unpleasant surprises. Interesting times.

[ends]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin City Council – all reports posted, belatedly!

Annual reports for council-owned companies were withheld from public and media scrutiny, without notice, prior to the council meeting held on Monday, 29 October 2012. The Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull and DCC chief executive Paul Orders are individually responsible for deliberately withholding this financial information. Although, along with them, we suspect other players in the woodpile.

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### ODT Online Wed, 31 Oct 2012
Report about stadium loss slips under radar
By Chris Morris
A worse-than-expected $3.2 million loss recorded by the company running Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium did not rate a mention at this week’s Dunedin City Council meeting. It emerged yesterday Dunedin Venues Management Ltd and Dunedin Venues Ltd’s annual reports had quietly slipped through Monday’s full council meeting without a question or word of debate. There had been no mention of DVML or DVL on the meeting’s public agenda, and it appeared the reports had not been circulated publicly, to media or even some council staff, as required, in the days before the meeting, the Otago Daily Times discovered yesterday.
Read more

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DUNEDIN CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
MONDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2012, 2.00 PM
COUNCIL CHAMBER, MUNICIPAL CHAMBERS29 October 2012

Agenda – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 118.9 KB)

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 77.9 KB)
ISCOM Approved Out of Water Supply Area Connection – Mr J D MacDonald, 3509 Sutton-Clarks Junction Road, RD 2, Outram 9074

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 1.1 MB)
Approval and Adoption of Annual Report

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 788.2 KB)
Vehicle Access John Wilson Ocean Drive

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 4.6 MB)
Speed Limits Bylaw Review

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 978.0 KB)
Speed Limits – Safer Speeds Demonstration Area

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 1.8 MB)
Submission on the Local Government Regulatory Performance Issues Paper

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 155.1 KB)
Meeting Schedule for 2013

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Aurora Annual Report 2012

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 1.8 MB)
Delta Annual Report 2012

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 813.7 KB)
Dunedin International Airport Annual Report 2012

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 1.0 MB)
Dunedin Venues Limited Annual Report 2012

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 1.1 MB)
Dunedin Venues Management Limited Annual Report 2012

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 225.0 KB)
Taieri Gorge Railway Annual Report 2012

Report – Council – 29/10/2012 (PDF, 2.8 MB)
Dunedin City Treasury Annual Report 2012

DCC Link

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### ODT Online Wed, 31 Oct 2012
Stadium finances dismay
By Chris Morris
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull says the Forsyth Barr Stadium’s finances are “not sustainable”, after confirmation the company running the venue lost nearly $1 million more than expected in its first year of operation. The result was contained in Dunedin Venues Management Ltd’s 2011-12 annual report, released to the Otago Daily Times yesterday, which showed the company lost $3.2 million in its first year. That was $814,000 worse than the $2.4 million loss forecast in May, when DVML’s revelations of a half-year, $1.9 million loss prompted the council to launch a review of the entire stadium operation.
A copy of Dunedin Venues Ltd’s annual report was also released yesterday, and showed the company that owned the stadium – and received rent from DVML – recorded a $4.312 million loss for the same period.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

NZIER on big events #RWC2011

When a new stadium and RWC 2011 at Dunedin were first floated as ideas we easily saw them as losers.

### ODT Online Tue, 30 Oct 2012
Business
Big events don’t make host countries richer: NZIER
By Jamie Gray
Big events like the Rugby World Cup do not make the host countries richer, independent economic research group NZIER said. NZIER said major international events tended to “suck in” visitors from before and after the time they are held, creating a displacement effect. It said most event analysis doesn’t stack up because it missed the displacement effects. “It means the benefits are often far smaller than people think,” NZIER said in a report. The displacement effect meant the net number of visitors an event generates is much lower than the visitors to the event, and NZIER said the Rugby World Cup 2011 was a good example of this. “We estimate there was little overall boost to visitor arrivals because there were fewer visitors before and after the 133,000 international visitors that came to New Zealand for the tournament,” it said. “Crucially, domestic tourism is displaced expenditure that would occur elsewhere in the economy. This significantly reduces the overall benefit from the events. Simply put, major domestic events do not make New Zealanders any wealthier.”
Read more

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NZIER – established in 1958 as the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research Inc – is a non-profit incorporated society based in Wellington. Its team of economists is one of the largest in New Zealand outside government.

http://nzier.org.nz/publications

Report: The host with the most? Rethinking the costs and benefits of hosting major events (30 October 2012)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCHL ‘run by a bunch of fools’ -agreed

Comment received.

JimmyJones
Submitted on 2012/10/30 at 5:43 pm

DCHL is financially very sick: if it was a horse, you would have to shoot it to put it out of its misery. It is amusing to see how sensitive Dave Cull is to Lee Vandervis stating-the-bloody-obvious, that DCHL doesn’t make enough real money to pay its interest and dividends to the DCC, as well as the subsidies to DVL and DVML.
The DCC are forcing DCHL into more and more debt every year. For the 5 years that I have Annual Reports, DCHL has always paid for its distributions to the DCC by increasing their debt. Not just part of the distributions are borrowed money, but the whole amount each year.
In 2012 they added $50.3 million to their debt (page 37), so you can see that even without being forced to provide distributions of $23.2 million, it already had a severe cash-flow shortage. This negative cash-flow is the result of their own incompetence from spending very large amounts on new investments and expanding their operations. The incompetence comes from the fact that there has been no expansion in profits as a result of this low quality spending. They seem to be followers of the Homer Principle (if something doesn’t work, keep doing it), because not once in the last five years have they earned enough cash to pay for their spending on new stuff. Poor-old Dave and the new-guy, Paul, don’t seem to understand the problem. Let me summarize –

● DCHL is heading towards bankruptcy
● It is going bankrupt because DCC councillors and staff have been using it like a magic money-box where distributions are paid from debt (debt that doesn’t show up on DCC books – because of their choice)
● The LTP shows that they fully intend to continue this foolish practice, despite the DCHL Chairman’s aspirational comments to the contrary and Mayor Cull foaming at the mouth about it
● DCHL has been, and mostly still is, being run by a bunch of fools that need to be kept well away from anything financial or owned by the People Of Dunedin.

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### ODT Online Tue, 30 Oct 2012
Mayor sees red over Vandervis questions
By Chris Morris
Sparks flew as Mayor Dave Cull and Cr Lee Vandervis clashed repeatedly over debt and dividends at yesterday’s Dunedin City Council meeting. In what at times resembled a running battle, an angry Mr Cull eventually accused Cr Vandervis of giving in to his “obsession” and threatened to prevent him from speaking. The pair found themselves at loggerheads over reports detailing Dunedin City Holdings Ltd’s latest financial results and the council’s annual report.[…]Cr Vandervis attacked the figures at yesterday’s meeting, claiming the entire $23.2 million – which helped keep council rates increases to a minimum – had been funded from loans.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
29.10.12 DCC consolidated debt substantially more than $616m…
26.10.12 DCHL borrowed $23 million to bail DCC
26.10.12 DCHL: New directors for Aurora, Delta, City Forests
25.10.12 Dunedin Venues Limited – 2012 Annual Report now 2 months overdue
17.10.12 The only thing up…. (for sale)
17.10.12 DCC on DCHL, subsidiaries and DCTL
12.10.12 DCHL, subsidiaries and DCTL
28.9.12 The End of The Golden Weather?
25.9.12 Cull’s state of denial…
24.9.12 DCC against imposition of local government reforms
11.9.12 Delta Utility Services Ltd
6.9.12 DCC pays out $millions to cover loss making stadium…
30.8.12 DCC seen by Fairfax Business Bureau deputy editor Tim Hunter
7.8.12 DCC, DCHL, debt, democracy (and professional rugby)
26.7.12 Cull’s council thinks $750,000 per annum to DVML…

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Mayor Cull limp biscuit on North-South match

Earlier yesterday, DVML chief executive David Davies issued a statement confirming revenue of $114,808 had been generated by the match, with a profit of $21,412 once costs of $93,396 were covered.

### ODT Online Tue, 24 Jul 2012
North-South game profit falls short
By Chris Morris
Dunedin ratepayers are on the right side of the scoreboard, despite receiving just a fraction of what had been hoped for from last month’s North-South charity rugby clash, Mayor Dave Cull insists. It was confirmed yesterday the game at Forsyth Barr Stadium had generated a profit of just $21,412, after teams shorn of All Blacks and other top players drew a crowd of 7427 fans. The profit was much less than the $200,000 hoped for by Mr Cull when details of the match were unveiled in March, as part of the rescue package designed to save the Otago Rugby Football Union.
Read more

Related Post:
23.7.12 DCC media release

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Received.

From: bevkiwi@hotmail.com
To: david.davies@dunedinvenues.co.nz
Subject: LGOIMA request: Full costs of North South game
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:45:21 +1200

68 Russell St
Dunedin Central 9016

Tuesday 24th July 2012

Dear David

It was reported in today’s ODT that the North South game generated a revenue of $114,808, with a profit of $21,412 once costs of $93,396 were covered. It is also reported that:
“Match costs included about $13,000 spent on advertising and promotion by DVML, but staff costs were not part of the bill and nor was any venue hire agreement, it was confirmed yesterday.”

It is normal business practice to include ALL costs before declaring a profit.

As this was a fundraising match, I do not anticipate any “commercial sensitivity” excuses for not disclosing all the costs.
I, therefore, request a full breakdown of ALL the costs, including the staff costs and normal cost for hiring the venue.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Asset sales (would Dave’s council sell us up)

YOU BETCHA BUT NOT THE STADIUM, WHY NOT THE STADIUM, MALCOLM ALWAYS SAW IT AS A LEGACY, OH, NOT TO UPSET MALCOLM THEN, ANYWAY STUART SAYS THE WATER KEEPS FALLING OUT OF THE SKY

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### 3news.co.nz Mon, 28 May 2012 7:00p.m.
Local councils under pressure to use asset sales
Assets sales are never far from the headlines, and always, it seems, controversial. The Government is pressing ahead with the partial sale of four state-owned energy companies and Air New Zealand. They made their plans clear during the elections and therefore claim a mandate to sell, but how far does that go? Because it’s no longer just state-owned assets being eyed for potential sale, local councils are under increasing pressure to consider asset sales to fund new projects and reduce debt. Auckland has already said no, and now Christchurch has suggested in a very polite fashion that central Government should sod off. The Christchurch Council and ratepayers face extraordinary costs following the earthquake, but the mayor is firm that there will be no sale of the family silver.
Read more + Video

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Wednesday: Meetings of Council and FSD Committee, read DEBT

UPDATED 16.3.12

The week when everything blows. Tens and tens of millions of dollars lost like so many fluttering autumn leaves. Councillors, the worst of times. You are liable for wrath and accountable for so much more.

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Comment received.

BlueBottle
Submitted on 2012/03/14 at 12:19 am

Tomorrow (Wednesday) there are meetings of Council and the FSD. The Council meeting is the one that was postponed from Friday because the draft long term plan failed its audit. It is still not good enough and should not be approved.

The meeting starts off with a secret session to decide how generous the ratepayers will be towards the ORFU. The terms “bail-out” and “blood-sucking leeches” definitely won’t be mentioned in the press release.

The new draft long term plan tells us that there is a report to be presented to a committee about the governance arrangements of DVL and DVML (see LTP page 5).

It turns out that negotiations to sign the stadium “venue hire agreements with major event owners” have failed, but we are told the LTP is written as if the agreements are signed.

The Private Sector Funding is now called (p5) Private Sector Debt. It isn’t “private” but it is “debt”, so that’s an improvement. Thanks to Audit NZ for that.

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How they voted
After eight hours of deliberation and with no changes to the ORFU bail-out package put before them, Dunedin City councillors voted in this way:

Aye: Cull, Bezett, Collins, Hudson, Staynes, Thomson, Brown, Noone (8)

No: Butcher, MacTavish, Stevenson, Vandervis, Wilson (5)

Apologies: Acklin, Weatherall (both say they would have supported the package)

(via ODT Online 16.3.12)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DScene: Call for full inquiry into stadium project

Register to read DScene online at
http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

### DScene 7.3.12
Open the books (front page)
Anti-stadium campaigner Bev Butler says an audit into the Forsyth Barr Stadium cost should just be the start; she is calling on Dunedin City Council to hold a full inquiry into the project. See page 3. #bookmark

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Stadium inquiry demanded (page 3)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Stadium opponent Bev Butler has urged Local Government Minister Nick Smith to initiate a full inquiry into the project. Butler believed an inquiry would prove it simply too expensive to maintain empty and unused. Confidential documents obtained through the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) solidify Butler’s determination. She was heartened by the Dunedin City Council decision two weeks ago to commission a review of stadium completion figures by a PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic auditing team. But that wasn’t enough, she said.
{continues} #bookmark

****

UPDATED 7.3.12 at 7:20 pm
Smell the Delta rat…

{storyline as published today at DScene is under review -Eds}
Delta pursues damages from councillor (page 5)
By Wilma McCorkindale #bookmark

—

Refer to the following news stories at ODT Online:
14.9.10 Swings hoping to sway voters
16.9.10 Candidate’s advertising sign sparks power cut
18.9.10 Candidates’ sign sites pose risks

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UPDATED 8.3.12 at 7:05 pm
—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:29:15 +1300
To: EditorDscene , “Wilma McCorkindale (STL)”
Conversation: Delta pursues damages from Councillor – misinformation
Subject: Delta pursues damages from Councillor – misinformation

Dear Mike and Wilma,

“Delta pursues damages from Councillor – misinformation
I was very disappointed in your 7/3/12 article ‘Delta pursues damages from Councillor’, because of its judgemental presentation of untruths.
The damage done to a power cable by me is only alleged at this point, and did not happen last September as claimed but 18 months ago prior to the last local body election.
The claims that I personally hit a steel peg that pierced the cable and that it exploded are false, as the more accurate ODT articles on the issue in 2010 made clear.
The claim that Delta had heard nothing from me is false as I have verbally invited Delta to produce their evidence when they have rung.
Also false is the claim that my election sign was erected about 20 metres south of the Council designated site, as 2010 ODT photographs show.
If DScene staff had read relevant 2010 ODT reports, or told me what was claimed in this article, this belated misinformation could have been avoided.”

In the interests of accuracy and on-going good relations, I would appreciate you running this letter with similar prominence to the offending article in next week’s Dscene.

Regards,
Cr. Lee Vandervis

—— End of Forwarded Message

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Bringing DCC councillors, staff, related entities and individuals to account, let’s get honest

The Dunedin City Council is dragging its heels, for reasons that should be made public immediately, on declaring the wayward spend that has brought the new stadium about, including the realignment of SH88 — all of which has taken the project beyond the councillors’ role required by the Local Government Act, to act prudently and conservatively with ratepayers’ money.

The councillors’ fiduciary responsibility to this community has been abandoned by thorough incompetence and deception that borders on the criminally fraudulent. This will require direct action by the Minister of Local Government, Nick Smith. There is no getting around this.

The independent review of stadium costs by PricewaterhouseCoopers is of necessity limited by its price tag of $55,000 and the instructions of the commissioning client, Dunedin City Council. Meanwhile, the ‘independent’ Otago Daily Times is prepared to sit back as a moderate, to cover tail.

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In terms of “who”, he said if something “untoward” was found, “there will be accountability issues”. -Cull

### ODY Online Mon, 27 Feb 2012
Extra cost on stadium not massive blowout: Cull
By David Loughrey
Dunedin may not being facing a huge blowout in the cost of the Forsyth Barr Stadium, but it is possible people or organisations may be “brought to account” following an investigation. It emerged on Friday questions remained about the final cost of the stadium – six months after the facility was built.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Editor cites DCC as “open democracy in action”

Sometimes the penny does not drop. In today’s editorial, ‘Cavernous divisions in Christchurch’, the Otago Daily Times has its word on Christchurch City Council and in so doing comes up with this, the first paragraph:

“While no-one would claim they are perfect, and there is room for debate round the edges particularly where meetings closed to the public are concerned, the processes of the Dunedin City Council, as exemplified by this week’s pre-draft budget meetings, are an example of open democracy in action.” Link

A remarkable comment in the face of the rugby scrum that parades as the annual plan / long term council community plan process at Dunedin, a process well tinged with lies, deceit, incompetence and further mismanagement of ratepayer funds by our elected representatives. This after years of council grey papers, staff manipulations, and unholy alliances with gentlefolk in the private sector whose names are well known.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium debt goes to 40-year term

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said he was “vehemently opposed” to repaying the debt over 40 years, because of the interest it would add to the bill, but would support it in the meantime to keep rates down. “But I see it as a short-term fix.”

### ODT Online Thu, 26 Jan 2012
Councillors spar over stadium debt
By Chris Morris
There were emotive arguments as Dunedin city councillors split into camps over the restructuring of Forsyth Barr Stadium debt repayments to a 40-year term yesterday. The move was approved by Dunedin city councillors for inclusion in the 2012-13 pre-draft annual and long-term plan yesterday, alongside a push to restructure repayments in later years to more quickly reduce the debt.
Read more

****

It meant the council would be receiving the same rates as it would have from properties previously occupying the stadium site.

### ODT Online Thu, 26 Jan 2012
Backing for lowering stadium rates
By Chris Morris
Dunedin city councillors have given initial backing to a proposal to slash the Forsyth Barr Stadium’s $2 million annual rates bill. Councillors at yesterday’s pre-draft budget meetings voted in favour of resolutions that would cut the rates bill for Dunedin Venues Management Ltd – the company running the stadium – from $2 million a year to a more manageable $134,000 a year. That amounted to a 93% discount on the venue’s city council rates.
Read more

****

### ODT Online Thu, 26 Jan 2012
Artificial turf stays in plan by one vote
By David Loughrey
An artificial turf, seen by Dunedin City Council staff as the future of sports fields in Dunedin, stayed in the city’s annual plan by a single vote yesterday.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Waipori Fund – inane thinkings from a councillor

### 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

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### 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]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Spatial plan “rainbows” – Dunedin

Dunedin City Council critic Calvin Oaten says the city should turn all its attention to saving itself from bankruptcy rather than spending time, money and resources chasing “spatial plan” rainbows.

### ODT Online Thu, 1 Dec 2011
Opinion
As they say, there are lies, damned lies and statistics
By Calvin Oaten
“A ‘special’ Dunedin is seen in new plan.” So said the headlines covering the presentation of the council’s draft “spatial plan” to about 100 people at a public forum at Forsyth Barr Stadium recently. So what is this plan? “Dunedin Towards 2050 – a Spatial Plan for Dunedin”, sets the strategic direction for Dunedin’s growth and development for the next 30-plus years.
Read more

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DCC Draft Spatial Plan Information
Deadline for public submissions: 13/1/2012

Calvin Oaten reminds us about the long forgotten “CHOICES For The Future. Towards 2021” plan devised by DCC, released in 2001, a 20-year outlook:

“Arguably, the most egregious aspect which has driven the plan off course is the fact that Mr Harland, mayor Peter Chin and the council went on a spending spree of unprecedented proportions, commencing in 2004, taking Dunedin’s net debt from $35 million in 2002 to $457.790 million in 2013.”

Mr Harland instigated all work on the draft spatial plan for Dunedin.

Play-shaping, plain and simple.
(refer to comment by ODT Online editor)

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Related Posts:
30.11.11 amalgamation, Anyone?
28.10.11 Dunedin’s DRAFT Spatial Plan
21.9.11 John Montgomery: The Economy, Culture and Design of Cities
7.6.11 Public Workshop: Dunedin Central City
3.3.11 restorm: Will Wiles attempts to deconstruct…

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr