Downer EDI buys Hawkins businesses

At Facebook:

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Downer EDI – Media Release
Downer acquires Hawkins businesses in New Zealand

08/03/2017
Downer EDI Limited (Downer) announced today that it had signed an agreement to acquire the construction, infrastructure and project management businesses of Hawkins, a New Zealand company, from the McConnell Family.
The Chief Executive of Downer, Grant Fenn, said Hawkins was an excellent strategic fit for Downer’s New Zealand business.
“Downer has a long and proud history in New Zealand that can be traced back more than a century,” Mr Fenn said. “Today we are a leading provider of services to our customers in a range of markets including transport, telecommunications and water.
“Hawkins is a New Zealand industry leader in construction and infrastructure and this acquisition will complement our existing Engineering, Construction and Maintenance capabilities while also providing a platform for growth. It is estimated that over NZ$50 billion will be invested in non-residential construction in New Zealand over the next five years.”
Mr Fenn said Hawkins would continue to operate under its current brand.
“Hawkins was founded in New Zealand 70 years ago and its highly skilled management team has built a strong reputation for delivering quality projects for its customers in both the public and private sectors,” he said.
Hawkins has a number of high profile projects across its portfolio including the SH16 Lincoln to Westgate upgrade, the construction of Auckland’s Park Hyatt Hotel, the Pier B Extension at Auckland Airport, Wellington Airport’s Rongotai Control Tower, Wellington City Council’s Arlington Housing Project, the Christchurch Town Hall, and the Avon River Precinct (Christchurch).
Mr Fenn said the acquisition would be funded through existing debt facilities and be earnings accretive in its first year.
The transaction is due to be completed on 31 March.

[ends] Downer EDI Link

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Hawkins – Media Release
Hawkins Ownership to Change

8th March 2017

Hawkins is pleased to announce that Downer is acquiring Hawkins’ construction, infrastructure and project management businesses from the McConnell Family. This offers a new era of opportunity for both organisations. Hawkins Construction will retain its brand and continue as an ongoing business. Hawkins Infrastructure, which complements Downer, will be integrated into its existing Infrastructure business. Together we look forward to continuing our proud New Zealand heritage of building better communities, with passionate people and great projects. Link

[Hawkins full announcement]

DOW / Announcements
Downer acquires Hawkins business in New Zealand
8:39am, 8 Mar 2017 | ASSET

8 March 2017
DOWNER ACQUIRES HAWKINS BUSINESSES IN NEW ZEALAND
Downer EDI Limited (Downer) announced today that it had signed an agreement to acquire the construction, infrastructure and project management businesses of Hawkins, a New Zealand company, from the McConnell Family.
The Chief Executive of Downer, Grant Fenn, said Hawkins was an excellent strategic fit for Downer’s New Zealand business.
“Downer has a long and proud history in New Zealand that can be traced back more than a century,” Mr Fenn said. “Today we are a leading provider of services to our customers in a range of markets including transport, telecommunications and water.
“Hawkins is a New Zealand industry leader in construction and infrastructure and this acquisition will complement our existing Engineering, Construction and Maintenance capabilities while also providing a platform for growth. It is estimated that over NZ$50 billion will be invested in non-residential construction in New Zealand over the next five years.”
Mr Fenn said Hawkins would continue to operate under its current brand.
“Hawkins was founded in New Zealand 70 years ago and its highly skilled management team has built a strong reputation for delivering quality projects for its customers in both the public and private sectors,” he said.
Hawkins has a number of high profile projects across its portfolio including the SH16 Lincoln to Westgate upgrade, the construction of Auckland’s Park Hyatt Hotel, the Pier B Extension at Auckland Airport, Wellington Airport’s Rongotai Control Tower, Wellington City Council’s Arlington Housing Project, the Christchurch Town Hall, and the Avon River Precinct (Christchurch).
Mr Fenn said the acquisition would be funded through existing debt facilities and be earnings accretive in its first year.
The transaction is due to be completed on 31 March.

For further information please contact:
Michael Sharp, Group Head of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations +61 439 470 145

About Downer
Downer EDI Limited (Downer) is a leading provider of services to customers in markets including: Transport Services; Rail; Mining; Utilities Services; Technology and Communications Services; and Engineering, Construction & Maintenance. We build strong relationships of trust with our customers, truly understanding and predicting their needs and bringing them world leading insights and solutions. Downer employs about 19,000 people across more than 200 sites and projects, mostly in Australia and New Zealand, but also in the Asia-Pacific region, South America and Southern Africa. For more on Downer, visit: http://www.downergroup.com.

About Hawkins
Hawkins was established in Hamilton in 1946 by Fred Hawkins and has steadily grown over seven decades to become a leader in New Zealand’s infrastructure and project delivery. Hawkins employs about 700 people and specialises in the design and construction delivery of buildings and infrastructure that create stronger communities across New Zealand and also the Asia Pacific. For more information on Hawkins, visit http://www.hawkins.co.nz

Attachments
Downer acquires Hawkins business in New Zealand (PDF)

[ends] Hawkins Link

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

Jane Kelsey —The FIRE Economy: New Zealand’s Reckoning #book

The name of Kelsey’s book refers to an acronym for economies primarily based around “finance, insurance and real estate”.

### ODT Online Thu, 10 Sep 2015
Foretelling end of neoliberalism
By Carla Green
Legal scholar Jane Kelsey has described the “morbid symptoms” of neoliberalism’s impending downfall. The University of Auckland law professor was speaking during the presentation of her new book, The Fire Economy, in Dunedin this week.
Read more

Image via Idealog.co.nz

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Bridget Williams Books (promotion + sales)

The FIRE Economy: New Zealand’s Reckoning
Jane Kelsey

The FIRE economy – built on finance, insurance and real estate – is now the world’s principal source of wealth creation. Its rise has transformed our political, economic and social landscapes, supported by a neoliberal regime that celebrates markets, profit and risk. From rising inequality and ballooning household debt to a global financial crisis and fiscal austerity, the neoliberal ‘orthodoxy’ has brought instability and empowered the few. Yet it remains remarkably resilient, even resurgent, in New Zealand and abroad.
In 1995 Jane Kelsey set out a groundbreaking account of the neoliberal revolution in The New Zealand Experiment. Now she marshals an exceptional range of evidence to show how this transfer of wealth and power has been systematically embedded over three decades.
Today organisations and commentators once at the vanguard of neoliberal reform, including the IMF and Financial Times journalist Martin Wolf, are warning the current model is unsustainable. A post-neoliberal era beckons. In The FIRE Economy Kelsey identifies the risks posed by FIRE and the barriers embedded neoliberalism presents to a progressive, post-neoliberal transformation – and urges us to act. This is a book New Zealand cannot afford to ignore.
BWB Link + Book Preview

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█ Videos at YouTube (published by Scoop):

Jane Kelsey “The Fire Economy” Book Talk To The Fabians 5 August 2015 (pt 1)
Jane Kelsey “The Fire Economy” Book Talk To The Fabians 5 August 2015 (pt 2)
Jane Kelsey “The Fire Economy” Book Talk To The Fabians 5 August 2015 (pt 3)

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[via Scoop.co.nz]

Fri, 17 Jul 2015, 4:30 pm
The FIRE Economy: New Zealand’s Reckoning – By Jane Kelsey
Opinion: Professor Jane Kelsey
Introduction – An Extract

The global economy imploded in 2008 and confirmed a stark reality. Entire nations and billions of people are captives of an unstable and amoral economic system powered by finance, insurance and real estate – FIRE. New Zealand included.
‘The FIRE economy’ is a metaphor for the fundamental shift in global capitalism since the 1970s. Finance has replaced industry as the driver of wealth creation in affluent countries – a transformation known as financialisation. Neoliberal ideology, rules and institutions acted first as the midwife and then as the guardian of this new economic order.
The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) showed the world’s richest countries, notably the US and the nations of Europe, that the globally integrated economy they had created, and from which they have prospered, could also bring them to their knees. Faith in the neoliberal ‘orthodoxy’ that shaped and sustained them seemed shattered. The fallout was fast and furious, and quickly spread to many other parts of the world.
A cursory look might suggest that little has really changed. Neoliberalism remains deeply embedded in most countries. The finance industry is resurgent and those who profit from it are unrepentant. Conservative parties with pro-market and pro-austerity mandates have been elected to govern some of the countries hardest hit.
Appearances are, however, deceptive. Confidence in the FIRE economy has faltered since the GFC and the hegemony of the neoliberal model is in decline. Core tenets of neoliberal ideology are being repudiated, even in institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Social inequality and poverty in and between countries are now recognised as symptoms of a sick system. Popular unrest in Europe has intensified, and new political parties from neo-Nazi fascists to the socialist left have gained ground. There are credible predictions of further crises.
The United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned in its flagship Trade and Development report for 2014, six years after the GFC erupted, that the ‘world economy has not yet escaped the growth doldrums in which it has been marooned for the past four years, and there is a growing danger that this state of affairs is becoming accepted as the “new normal”’. That ‘new normal’ is not sustainable.
The world is entering a period of transformation equivalent to the epochal shift to Keynesian interventionism from the 1930s and the neoliberal revolution from the late 1970s. We are in the interregnum. The old orthodoxy is unstable and fragile; a new one has yet to be born. It remains to be seen how this plays out, how much resistance it will encounter, and whether alternative approaches can really break through the barriers designed to protect neoliberalism and the FIRE economy from just such a transformation.

Kiwi complacency
While the GFC has plunged rich countries like the US and England and later Spain and Greece into turmoil, New Zealand seems to be basking in the belief that it has survived the crisis pretty much unscathed. The standard Kiwi narrative treats it as a northern hemisphere affair, triggered by greedy American bankers and profligate European governments. The story goes something like this.
In today’s globalised world there was bound to be some collateral damage from other countries’ post-crisis recessions, but our financial system was shown to be basically sound (mainly because the Australian banks that own ours are sound). Governments on both sides of the Tasman responded promptly and effectively. Temporary interventions provided fiscal stimulus and bank guarantees steadied the ship, staving off a more serious recession. Stability was restored. Each country then resumed business as usual, regardless of their governments’ political hue. Helped by exports to China, future prospects looked positive, even rosy. Exuberant commentators went so far as to hail New Zealand as the ‘rock star’ economy of 2014. The strong centre-right vote at the 2014 election suggested confidence in the status quo or, at least, that the belief in TINA – there is no alternative – still prevails.
Before the 2008 election, as the GFC began to erupt, business journalist Bob Edlin observed how the country’s leaders seemed ‘curiously phlegmatic about global financial upheaval and its economic implications’. Their offerings ‘amounted to little more than tweaks of programmes that have brought us to where we are – a standstill’. No one was ‘peddling a cyclone-shelter or rebuilding programme’. Nothing has changed since then.

Couldn’t happen here?
This complacency is deeply disturbing. Neoliberalism has not served most New Zealanders well. Nor, in other than a hedonistic sense, has financialisation. Structural poverty and deep inequalities of wealth and income have transformed the social landscape. We have a shallow economy that depends on FIRE, farming, post-earthquake reconstruction and immigration. Periods of sustained economic growth in the 2000s have been fuelled by cheap credit. As a consequence, households, farmers and the country sit on a growing mountain of debt. Trading in property has become the main source of easy wealth, creating repeated incipient property bubbles. We have most of the preconditions that have been identified as triggers for a crisis.
A former Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Ian Macfarlane, is under no illusion there will be further crises. In 2008 he pointed to at least eight financial crises that impacted on Australia – and hence New Zealand – in the three decades before the GFC. Five were banking crises, and three involved excessive and risky lending in the property sector. Some affected New Zealand much more severely than the GFC. However, it was the depth and contagion of the latest crisis that Macfarlane says made it the most significant internationally and invalidated the model of the deregulated financial system.
New Zealand is much more at risk than Australia because successive Labour and National governments have located this country at the pure end of the neoliberal spectrum. For years it was known as the Wild West of financial markets. Adjustments during the 2000s were still premised on light-handed risk-tolerant regulation. Even since the GFC, governments and their advisers have continued to position New Zealand as an outlier, ignoring doubts in other countries and international institutions over the wisdom of letting financial markets rule.
Without some fundamental changes, New Zealand risks sleepwalking into a social, economic and political catastrophe. No one knows how or when that might happen. The tipping point could be another massive offshore crisis. Or it could be self-generated, as it was in Iceland and Ireland, if we fail to heed the warning signs. There is much to learn from Iceland’s successful post-crisis strategy of intervention, redistribution and capital controls, and from the tragedy of austerity economics in Greece, Spain and Ireland.

Time to act
Waiting for Armageddon is hardly a progressive strategy. It makes much more sense for New Zealanders to confront the country’s challenges now and begin to shape a socially progressive alternative than to battle over models in the midst of a crisis. While it is true New Zealand’s fate will inevitably be caught up in the unfolding of international events, Kiwis can influence how those global dynamics shape our future.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Design alternatives to (pre-selected) bridge not canvassed by DCC

GOODBYE to Rattray St VIEW Shaft from Queens Gardens to the waterside.

HELLO to other serious impediments to unique and very significant harbourside cultural heritage and landscape values at the planned city.

Here is another DCC-inspired critically dead PLONK OBJECT.
An overhead rail bridge. Who gains.

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DCC files: Harbourside connector Rattray Fryatt Streets [click to enlarge]

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It looks innocuous, nothing to scare the horses. A simple sling over the tracks at an estimated a cost of “about $3 million”.

What’s the fuss? Ahhh well.
The history of political deception through use of loose architectural sketches is tied (here as anywhere) to DCC departmental reports and estimates that hardly ever approximate REAL cost. Multiply by two.

Then the idea that the “hotel” is back on the drawing boards, if not a screw-us invitation to Asian investment for the south side.

By all means let’s escalate this (an idea) – the tame little cheapie bridge (pictured above, significantly downplayed structurally as a pencil mark) is another potential rort in the grand family of Council rorts that includes the Stadium*, Centre for High Performance Sport*, Carisbrook*, Dunedin Town Hall Redevelopment*, Citifleet*, City Forests*, Delta investments (severally)*, Cycle Network et al, and very probably the proposed Mosgiel pool if it gains traction for Taieri property speculators. For each, an independent forensic audit isn’t out of the question – for ratepayer ‘information’ that could depose the Council in favour of a Commissioner, presupposing later redress at Court. Visit resort to the *Crimes Act. Now, there’s a ‘visitor strategy’ for Dunedin !!

Meekly, more circumspectly (after all, it was just an idea, a stretch), those of us trained in architectural rendering and graphics as well as contemporary design philosophy of the marketplace know the tricks intimately; we’re not above exploiting them for a quick buck and a further string of new jobs by secret handshake.

Lucky for some, each deal at Dunedin (with links to Queenstown and Auckland if via Christchurch lawyers and accountants) can be sown up by a very small number of predatory boys. The same list we’ve had on our backburner books tracing the Stadium debacle —beginning to rise apparent at the ODT front page of Friday, 22 May 2015. An intriguing warning shot.

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But is this right ? Has Dunedin City Council been wowed by just one bridge proposal ? Has DCC in the first place only ever been looking for a bridge —not seeking opportunities for alternatives, such as a designer underpass or an immediately legible automatically controlled crossing at grade, for light vehicle transit as well (shared roads) ?

It’s pretty poor and conflicting if Dunedin City councillors and senior council management have indeed sold out (under a red-carpeted table) to a lone solicited vision of an overhead bridge UNTESTED BY PROFESSIONAL COMPETITION – another signature WHITE model, to augment those other visions in WHITE for ORC sites at the Steamer Basin —nicely, satisfyingly calculated by that little list of club players.

It’s not hard to imagine that this mere slip of a concrete and steel flyover, is an “enlightenment” carrying the City re-brand. A cause célèbre for ego-fired DCC infidels and speculator man-pals. The very people who can’t bear to endure sage, conservative, long-term economic modelling for Dunedin, taking the city and region through 10 to 50 years of solid management to ensure business diversity and job creation. No, they prefer ad hoc spurts and short-term squander plans (how manly, even when couched as the soft-illustrated 2011 Central City Plan FFS).

Where, for this crossing, is the city council’s reasonably time-lined, broadly advertised, professional design competition with clearly expressed intent to utilise open tendering methods for architectural design, engineering and construction ??

TO SAVE US FROM COI’S AND RORTS.

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The Otago Daily Times has learned the bridge is among only a few New Zealand projects vying for the next allocation from the Urban Cycleway Fund.

### ODT Online Thu, 28 May 2015
Bridge on funding short list
By Chris Morris
A multimillion-dollar bridge linking Dunedin’s inner city and waterfront has been short-listed for Government funds. […] An announcement is expected next month, and, if successful, the bridge could be considered for construction over the next three years.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

WCC’s free lunch for a car | Vandervis challenges DCC legal advice

Received.
‎Tue‎, ‎26‎ ‎May‎ ‎2015 ‎at 8‎:‎10‎ ‎a.m.

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00, May 26 2015
Editorial: Councillors don’t deserve a free lunch
OPINION: It is odd that Wellington City Councillors think the ratepayers owe them a free lunch. They don’t. Councillors say they don’t have time to go out and get lunch, so they must carry on working without it. “People have been getting grumpy,” explains Councillor Andy Foster. Therefore, the ratepayers must provide lunch. This argument is truly ridiculous. It means, apparently, that the politicians are incapable of doing what everyone else does, which is to have lunch within the usual times. They will say, of course, that they are busier than the other people. […] The councillors are in the difficult position that two years ago they scrapped free lunches, partly as a cost-cutting measure and partly as a sign that they were willing to share the pain. If those arguments were valid then, they are still valid now. So consider the cost-cutting argument. Officials are now recommending a 5.1 per cent increase in rates in 2015. Part of this will be $20,000 for councillors’ free lunches. This is about half of what the councillors’ free lunches used to cost before they scrapped them in 2013. Some will say this is a reasonable “compromise”. […] Councillors might now argue that $20,000 is a piffling amount in the context of the capital city’s budget, and of course it is. But suppose a burglar stole a car worth $20,000 from the city council’s fleet. This is also a trifling sum in the context of the city’s property assets. Would the councillors wink at that too?
Read more

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Tears, spats and squabbles (note ODT url for the following item)….

### ODT Online Tue, 26 May 2015
Vandervis ‘contesting voting ban’
By Chris Morris
Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis says he has begun a legal challenge to reclaim his lost voting rights, although senior council staff remain in the dark about the details. His move came as yesterday’s full council meeting descended into increasingly bitter exchanges, most involving Cr Vandervis, who told one councillor to leave town and was advised by another to “shut up”.
Cr Vandervis, speaking at yesterday’s meeting, maintained the voting ban was “ultra vires”, as a councillor’s right to vote was “sacrosanct”. He also took exception to the accuracy of meeting minutes purporting to record the decision to remove his voting rights, as well as subsequent committee meetings.
Read more at http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/343501/tears-spats-and-squabbles

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Cr Vandervis said the council’s real success in the Warehouse Precinct had been to “get out of the way” of private developers.

### ODT Online Tue, 26 May 2015
DCC approval for Exchange work
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council is to press ahead with a $1.1 million plan to revamp Exchange Square and create new car-free zones in the Warehouse Precinct. Councillors at yesterday’s full council meeting voted to approve both projects for public consultation over the next few months, which could be followed by construction later this year.
Read more

● ODT: Council may bring forward Exchange works
● ODT: Jetty St pedestrian area proposed

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█ Report – Council – 25/05/2015 (PDF, 1004.9 KB)
Renewal and Upgrade of Exchange Square

█ Report – Council – 25/05/2015 (PDF, 2.8 MB)
Proposed Restriction of Vehicles From Sections of Jetty Street

Other information:
● Dunedin Central City Plan (all documents)
● Exchange Square Upgrade
● Urbanismplus: Dunedin Central City Framework (PDF, 9.7 MB)
This full report provides justification for a better city centre, a vision for the city centre, some strategic direction and finally an implementation plan. October 2011.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Cr Vandervis on DCC project budgets

Received.
Sat, 16 May 2015 at 11:39 p.m.

via Malcolm Dixon’s Facebook page [link to Build Dunedin]
https://www.facebook.com /malcolm.dixon.528/posts/10152926652873106

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[screenshot]

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Related Posts and Comments:
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

█ For more about DCC and Cr Lee Vandervis, enter *vandervis* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Draft LTP 2015/16-2024/25 —public submissions online

PUBLIC FEEDBACK

You are able to search by submitter or subject/topic and view the details of the submission received by the Dunedin City Council to the DRAFT Long Term Plan 2015/16-2024/25.

The submissions are listed in alphabetical order of surname first.

█ Go to: http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/draft-long-term-plan-2015-2016/public-submissions

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Related Posts and Comments:
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

DCC Draft Long Term Plan 2015/16 to 2024/25 —CONSULTATION OPEN

There is no SMALL CITY in this image.
Guess we haven’t started building yet. When we do it will take consolidated council debt to way over the existing +$600M which, of course, Mayor Liability Cull is already bleakly and ‘creatively’ responsible for.

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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Long Term Plan Consultation Document Unveiled

This item was published on 27 Mar 2015

‘Building a Great Small City’, the consultation document for the DCC’s Long Term Plan (LTP) 2015/16 – 2024/25, has been released.

Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says the LTP is designed to enable the Council to examine the bigger picture and set a strategic direction for the city covering the whole range of DCC activities. Now priorities have been proposed, the Council wants to hear from residents.

The consultation document is now available at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ltp
Public consultation on the LTP opens on Saturday (today) and closes at 5pm on 28 April. People are encouraged to provide their feedback early and, if possible, use the online form.

A snapshot of what is proposed, presented in a map fold newsletter, will be delivered to every Dunedin household. Once consultation has started, there will be further information on the DCC website and copies of the LTP consultation document will be available at DCC facilities such as libraries and the Customer Services Agency in the Civic Centre. There will also be public workshops and LTP stands in public places and at events, with the opportunity for face-to-face discussion with Councillors. These will be held around the wider city during the consultation period.

For the first time, comments on the DCC Facebook page and tweets to @DnCityCouncil using #LTP will also be considered as feedback.

█ 28.3.15 ODT: Council accepts social media feedback

Mr Cull says, “The LTP allows us to look at the aspirations outlined in our strategy documents and how we should prioritise these over the next 10 years. This means the LTP needs to balance our financial goals, such as debt reduction, and our desire to develop Dunedin to make it a more attractive place to live and do business. Our Financial Strategy imposes a 3% rate increase limit unless there are exceptional circumstances. This is in line with the average 3% ‘cost of living’ increases faced by local government. Under current proposals, an overall 3.8% rate increase is proposed for 2015/16. The exceptional circumstances are that, in addition to our usual inflationary pressures, we have had to provide an extra $1.5 million for the Forsyth Barr Stadium and budget for losing $4.5 million of dividend from Dunedin City Holdings Limited, which owns companies on the DCC’s behalf. We have absorbed some of those costs, but cannot absorb them all. We also need to balance rate limits against a range of new proposals in the LTP which the Council believes are worth investing in. We need public input on these, plus feedback on several other projects that have been included as unfunded items, such as new aquatic facilities for Mosgiel and lighting for the University of Otago Oval.”

Amendments to the Local Government Act have changed the way LTPs are developed and consulted on with the community. Past long term plans have involved first producing a full draft plan which was then put out for public consultation and feedback. Under the new system the DCC is required to produce this consultation document which sets out the issues the city is facing and the options for managing them. Key issues include putting the Stadium on a more achievable financial footing, tackling the city’s ageing infrastructure and addressing low economic growth.

The consultation period will be followed by hearings and deliberations in May and a final LTP will be adopted by the Council in June.

A range of supporting documents and an online submission form will be available at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ltp from 7am on Saturday (today).

Contact Dave Cull Mayor of Dunedin on 477 4000. DCC Link

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Related Posts and Comments:
25.3.15 DCC Long Term Plan: Green-dyed chickens home to roost
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
12.3.15 Snaky Stedman —not answering … questions ratepayers must ask
4.3.15 DCC internal audits
20.2.15 Audit NZ making up for previous huge inadequacies over DCC books ?
21.1.15 Dunedin City Council to set rates WAY ABOVE….
14.1.15 DCC Draft Long Term Plan: more inanity from Cull’s crew pending
18.12.14 DCC: Deloitte report released on Citifleet #whitewash
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
3.11.14 DCC: What happened to $20 million cash on hand? #LGOIMA
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
28.5.14 DCC: Audit and risk subcommittee
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ … LynProvost
26.2.14 DCC: New audit and risk subcommittee a little too late !!

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image source: DCC

DCC Long Term Plan: Green-dyed chickens home to roost

Updated post Wed, 25 Mar 2015 at 12:49 p.m.

[todayifoundout.com]

With a self-imposed aim to keep rates rises to no more than 3%, the council still needed to find millions of dollars in savings each year for the next decade.

### ODT Online Wed, 25 Mar 2015
Council accused of being in denial over long-term plan
By Chris Morris
Councillors say the Dunedin City Council is in “denial” over the need to raise rates, or cut services, to plug a $68 million budget shortfall over the next decade. The claims came amid warnings from Crs Aaron Hawkins and Jinty MacTavish yesterday, as councillors met to sign off on a public consultation document summarising the council’s long-term plan.
Read more

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Quelle surprise…. it’s not like these latest mumblings from Councillors on DCC budgets and projections is “News!” to the Dunedin ratepayers and residents who closely follow Council fortunes.

What IS news is the “greenie sustainables” of Greater Dunedin have finally woken up!

Is there a political split forming in Greater Dunedin? – when indeed, historically, we’ve been told by the ‘loose connection with incorporated society’ that its members have no shared policy, that their elected representatives are free to (think) and vote independently…. with some cohesion, nevertheless.

Well might Cr Lee Vandervis provide a standing ovation to Cr Aaron Hawkins’ voicing of major concerns. It was incumbent on Cr Jinty MacTavish, practically and politically… to agree with her Green Party confederate.
Interesting times. Wait for the YouTube video.

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Dunedin City Council Extraordinary Meeting 24 March 2015 at 12 noon
Council Chamber, Municipal Chambers

█ Agenda – Council – 24/03/2015 (PDF, 28.3 KB)
Extraordinary Meeting

Agenda Item 4
ADOPTION OF DRAFT LONG TERM PLAN 2015/16 – 2024/25 SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS AND CONSULTATION DOCUMENT
Report from the General Manager Services and Development (Simon Pickford). Refer to pages 4.1 – 4.8.
Supporting documents and consultation document circulated separately and are also available on the Dunedin City Council website.
Reports and recommendations contained in this agenda are not to be considered as Council policy until adopted.

█ Report – Council – 24/03/2015 (PDF, 176.8 KB)
Adoption of Draft Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25 Supporting Documents and Consultation Document

█ Report – Council – 24/03/2015 (PDF, 2.8 MB)
Adoption of Draft Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25 Supporting Documents and Consultation Document
Attachment 7 – Dunedin City Council Draft Long Term Plan Consultation document for adoption 24 March 2015

█ Report – Council – 24/03/2015 (PDF, 2.4 MB)
Adoption of Draft Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25 Supporting Documents and Consultation Document
Draft Infrastructure Strategy for adoption 24 March 2015 (replaces previously issued document)

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Related Posts and Comments:
12.3.15 Snaky Stedman —not answering … questions ratepayers must ask
4.3.15 DCC internal audits
20.2.15 Audit NZ making up for previous huge inadequacies over DCC books ?
21.1.15 Dunedin City Council to set rates WAY ABOVE….
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
28.5.14 DCC: Audit and risk subcommittee
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ … LynProvost
26.2.14 DCC: New audit and risk subcommittee a little too late !!

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: What happened to $20 million cash on hand? #LGOIMA

1. Council had $22 million cash on hand.
2. Council spent $20 million (cash) on “capital projects”.
3. Council won’t account for the $20 million.
4. Council seeks open cheque to make discovery.

█ Report – FIN – 08/09/2014 (PDF, 2.3 MB)
Interim Financial Result – 12 Months to 30 June 2014

—

On 8 September 2014, the Council’s interim financial result for 12 months to 30 June 2014 was tabled at a meeting of the Finance Committee. A week later, ODT (15.9.14) reported Mayor Cull as saying there was a “significant improvement” to the Council’s core debt position.

In the same item, “Council group chief financial officer Grant McKenzie said the turnaround was partly due to a significant change in the amount of cash held by the council. The forecast had included about $22 million in “cash on hand”, but, since Mr McKenzie’s arrival, the decision had been made to slash the amount to about $2 million, he said. The cash was instead used to pay for capital projects, avoiding the expected need to borrow for the work, which reduced the council’s need to borrow by $20 million, he said.” ODT Link

What if? flagged the ‘cash-no-longer-on-hand’ illumination with a post:
● 15.9.14 Cull’s council spent the cash

Capital projects?
How was the money spent, and who by?
Then, we completely lost sight of it.
As the following correspondence shows, Council spent $20 million of ratepayer funds but refuses to declare where the cash went. Mr McKenzie plays the convenient game of obfuscation —like so many before him, and alongside him now at DCC.

█ Apparently, I’m to be personally charged for demanding relevant paperwork to track down the Public Money.

Accountability? Transparency? What the HELL is that?
NOT something DCC values, that’s a dead cert.

[begins]

From: Elizabeth Kerr
Sent: Tuesday, 23 September 2014 11:13 p.m.
To: Sandy Graham [DCC Group Manager Corporate Services]
Subject: LGOIMA request

Dear Sandy

Re: Cull warns debt still hurdle for council (ODT 15.9.14)http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/315949/cull-warns-debt-still-hurdle-council

Within the news item it says:

“The forecast had included about $22 million in “cash on hand”, but, since Mr McKenzie’s arrival, the decision had been made to slash the amount to about $2 million, he said.

“The cash was instead used to pay for capital projects, avoiding the expected need to borrow for the work, which reduced the council’s need to borrow by $20 million, he said.”

I would like the DCC to precisely itemise the way(s) in which the city council has spent this $20 million of “cash on hand”, to include the capital projects by name or other reference; the name(s) of the relevant council department(s) and or committee(s) that incurred this expenditure; the dates of expenditure; the spending delegations attributable to which, by name, formal signatories on account; and any other information in legible form that would assist the city council to meet my request in a forthright, full and transparent manner.

I look forward to reply.

Thanks, kind regards

Elizabeth Kerr

__________________________

From: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Sent: ‎Wednesday‎, ‎24‎ ‎September‎ ‎2014 ‎9‎:‎01‎ ‎a.m.
To: Elizabeth Kerr
Cc: Grace Ockwell [DCC]

Thanks Elizabeth

I have forwarded to staff to consider and a response will be provided as soon as possible but in any event within twenty working days. It may be that I need to come back to you with questions of clarification or refinement depending on how this information is stored/held but I will be in touch as required.

Warm regards
Sandy

__________________________

From: Elizabeth Kerr
Sent: Friday, 31 October 2014 1:42 p.m.
To: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Cc: Grace Ockwell [DCC]
Subject: Re: LGOIMA request [DCC expenditure of $20M cash on hand]

Dear Sandy

The official information request I made on 23 September 2014 (see emails [above]) is yet to have a response, we are now well outside the twenty working day limit.

Please provide update on how soon the information will be released.

Many thanks, and kind regards

Elizabeth

__________________________

From: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Sent: ‎Friday‎, ‎31‎ ‎October‎ ‎2014 ‎2‎:‎03‎ ‎p.m.
To: Elizabeth Kerr
Cc: Grace Ockwell [DCC]

Sorry Elizabeth.

My fault. I had been supplied with a response and had not forwarded it.

The Group Chief Financial Officer advises:

“This request cannot be completed for what they are requesting as I do not know what capital and operating activity we would assign to the $20 million. In addition the work involved in getting the invoices etc would be significant. What has happened is that we have used our cash on hand to fund council activity (operating and capital) instead of borrowing to do this.”

If you would like me to pursue the possibility of tracking down invoices, I would need to consider charging for this work because there would be significant collation and research required, and even then, we may not be able to fully answer your question. Let me know if you would like me to investigate this further.

The GCFO has indicated he is happy to meet and talk through the issues but is unable to provide any further information at this stage.

Again, apologies for my tardiness.

Sandy

__________________________

From: Elizabeth Kerr [mailto:ejkerr@ihug.co.nz]
Sent: Friday, 31 October 2014 2:05 p.m.
To: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Cc: Grace Ockwell [DCC]; Grant McKenzie [DCC GCFO]
Subject: Re: LGOIMA request [DCC expenditure of $20M cash on hand]

Dear Sandy

Thanks for getting back to me promptly today. I acknowledge receipt.

I’m considering your response fully and as a consequence looking into all my options.

Kind regards, Elizabeth

[ends]

—

Serendipitously, the same day (31.10.14), I heard from Cr Lee Vandervis —unbeknownst to me, a couple of days earlier he had voiced a similar query about the [MISSING PRESUMED DROWNED] $20 million “cash on hand”, and more, following his study of the Council’s Annual Report 2013-14.

█ Report – Council – 30/10/14 (PDF, 2.5 MB)
Approval and Adoption of Annual Report

[begins]

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 22:38:15 +1300
To: Sue Bidrose [DCC], Sandy Graham [DCC]
Conversation: Annual Report
Subject: Annual Report

Hi Sue,

The beginning of the Annual Report seems very reassuring with your highlighting our billion dollars worth of saleable assets, and our debt levels in pretty good shape and improving.

Looking further into the body of the report there is a lot of tabulation of various kinds of assets, but I seem not to be able to find the same depth of discussion on debt or the historical debt graph that I fought for years to finally get included. [A Consolidated term liabilities figure of $622,843,000 does appear on p199. I had been led to expect a historical graph of DCC debt and of total consolidated debt]
Is it possible to also have a graph of all inclusive historical staff costs included? There was one a while ago but it seems to have been dropped again.

At the end of the document I find a number of graphs that feature a fetching orange colour bar that seems to indicate that our “thriving and diverse economy” under Affordability has exceeded our LTP quantified limit on rates income in 2013 and 2014, exceeded the quantified limit on rates increase this year, slipped below the balanced budget benchmark, and also slipped below the essential services benchmark for this year.
It is no surprise to me that Citipark has not achieved targets, but I am surprised that your opening comments are so upbeat when the closing benchmarks are not met and the quantified limits seem to be exceeded.
These benchmark and limit graphs may have been misinterpreted by me because despite reading them several times I remain unsure of their real import.
Is it possible for someone to explain to me how the ‘pretty good shape and improving’ overview is supported, especially in light of the $20 million cut [from $22 million] in cash on hand and various sales that we have apparently recently instituted, combined with further expected constraints on DCHL subvention payments?

Looking forward,
Lee
__________________________

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 15:34:29 +1300
To: Debbie Porteous [ODT], Nicholas GS Smith [ODT]
Conversation: Annual Report
Subject: FW: Annual Report

Hi Debbie,
The Tuesday 28th email [above], which still remains unanswered, may help explain some of what deeply concerns me regarding yet another DCC Annual Report presented as up-beat.

Kind regards,
Cr. Vandervis
—— End of Forwarded Message
—— End of Forwarded Message

[ends]

If there was a plot to hide the way $20 million slid from sight, it thickens.
Not done yet, because I’m not a turkey dinner.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC considers sale of “149 properties”

Tomorrow’s ODT carries carefully arranged details…

Kevin Taylor, City Property “good, bad and ugly” manager

—

Updated post 19.9.14 at 11:29 a.m.

### ODT Online Fri, 19 Sep 2014
$10m property sell-off possible
By David Loughrey
Houses, empty sections and parkland are among 149 parcels of property across Dunedin being considered for sale, as the city council looks to add $10 million to its coffers. The council released its “work in progress” list after a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request from the Otago Daily Times. […] Council infrastructure and networks general manager Tony Avery yesterday said the list was a starting point.
Read more

—

News conferred last week:
█ Cr Lee Vandervis now sits on the DCC Audit and Risk Subcommittee. [ Minutes ]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
15.9.14 Cull’s council spent the cash
11.9.14 DCTL: New treasury manager
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 and the record…
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
7.8.14 DCC issues shoddy treatment to Caledonian Bowling Club
● 30.7.14 Dunedin City Council | Consolidated council debt
● 28.4.14 DCC loses City Property manager in restructuring
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass… [stadium review]
14.10.13 DCC: New chief financial officer
21.3.13 DCC: Opportunity created by Stephens’ departure
6.3.13 Carisbrook: Cr Vandervis elaborates
20.11.12 Dunedin City Council vs Anzide Properties decision…
9.6.12 City Property to compete more obviously in the market…

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: odt.co.nz (tweaked by whatifdunedin) – Kevin Taylor blackened, a bit

Cull’s council spent the cash

The cash was instead used to pay for capital projects, avoiding the expected need to borrow for the work, which reduced the council’s need to borrow by $20 million. –Grant McKenzie

The council had also agreed to another $20 million in carry-forwards for debt-funded project budgets, which shifted allocated funding for delayed projects from one year’s budget to the next. –Grant McKenzie

### ODT Online Mon, 15 Sep 2014
Cull warns debt still hurdle for council
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council cannot afford to get “complacent” despite a significant improvement to its core debt position, Mayor Dave Cull says. Council figures released last week showed its core debt – excluding companies – had dropped by nearly $5.5 million, from $227 million to $221.5 million, in the last financial year. […] the drop was the first time the council’s core debt had decreased since 2002-03, except for when stadium-related debt was transferred from the council to Dunedin Venues Ltd in 2010-11.
Read more

—

DCC Sep 14, 2014

Dunedin City Council – Finance Committee – September 8 2014
Coverage of the Dunedin City Council Finance Committee held on Monday, 8 September 2014. Minutes, agendas and reports related to this meeting can be found at http://goo.gl/UumsOI

—

Report – FIN – 08/09/2014 (PDF, 2.3 MB)
Interim Financial Result – 12 Months to 30 June 2014

Report – FIN – 08/09/2014 (PDF, 668.6 KB)
Financial Result – 1 Month to 31 July 2014

Report – FIN – 08/09/2014 (PDF, 391.2 KB)
Waipori Fund Quarterly Report to June 2014

—

Related Posts and Comments:
11.9.14 DCTL: New treasury manager
● 9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech [relevance]
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 and the record…
26.8.14 DCC: Forensics for kids
23.8.14 DCC public finance forum 12.8.14 (ten slides)
28.4.14 DCC loses City Property manager in restructuring
30.1.14 DCC broke → More PPPs to line private pockets and stuff ratepayers
● 29.1.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya! [relevance]
17.12.13 DCC, Dunedin City Treasury and 3 big banks [Interest Rate Swaps]
10.12.13 DCC putting up cover, walls paper thin [risk exposure VERY HIGH]
14.10.13 DCC: New chief financial officer
4.7.13 Carisbrook: DCC losses

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium Review: dark yet rosy thoughts

ODT 28.8.14 (page 12)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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

—

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

—

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)

DCC public finance forum 12.8.14 (ten slides)

The ten powerslides presented by DCC group chief financial officer Grant McKenzie, as discussed at the public finance forum held earlier this month are available for download (see PDF below).

Figures might be, but the forum was advertised….

Public notices advertising the forum and the warm invitation extended by Cr Richard Thomson, chair of the Finance Committee, were unfortunately met with low attendance on the night. Few of the well-known vocal commentators on DCC’s financial position, or indeed, leaders of the Otago Chamber of Commerce, bothered to show. Those individuals lose a measure of credibility. Where were all the beleaguered ratepayers and residents? The local ‘interested’ accountants, economists, board directors, investors, and successful business people? Their apologies? Has everybody drowned with rising sea levels or been knocked from their bikes on the one-way? Blame Dave Cull.

Rob Hamlin and ‘JimmyJones’ did make the effort to be there, solidly plying their observations and questions in debate. Other members of the public also engaged. We didn’t hear the names of people who forwarded questions prior to the meeting, or what their questions were. Notwithstanding, the slides are the Council’s attempt to respond to issues commonly raised, in summary.

The first public finance forum was held on 27 November 2013. The second on 12 August was an opportunity to hear Grant McKenzie who arrived at the Council in January. He proves to be approachable, mild-humoured and self-effacing. Grant explores the expanded GCFO role ably supported by senior finance staff; his already onerous duties include the overlay of current fraud investigations, new systems for accountability and risk management, as well as the stadium review (due in September).

—

[click slides to enlarge – scanned from forum handout]

1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

█ DCC Finance Forum (powerslides 1-10) (PDF, 18.6 MB)

For more information on DCC, enter the terms *finance*, *dcc*, *dchl*, *delta*, *cst* *dvml* or *stadium* in the search box at right.

****

Other Reading – link supplied by Calvin Oaten
Sat, 23 Aug 2014 at 12:08 p.m.

An interconnected world was meant to reduce inequality – but that doesn’t seem to be happening.

### blogs.telegraph.co.uk August 22, 2014 13:18
Finance
Nobel gurus fear globalisation is going horribly wrong (technical)
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
David Ricardo’s Theory of Comparative Advantage has broken down after 200 years, or so I learned at the Lindau forum of Nobel laureates in Bavaria. The theory published in 1817 has been a guiding principle of free trade, taken as a given by every student of economics in the modern era. It has served us well, but just as Newton’s theories ran into limits and were overtaken by Einstein’s relativity, comparative advantage no longer explains the world. Under Ricardo’s model, inequality was supposed to narrow within countries as globalisation accelerated exponentially in the Nineties. Instead it is getting wider. The Gini coefficient measuring the spread between rich and poor is narrowing between countries, but is widening almost everywhere within countries, leading to a corrosive concentration….
Read more

● Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has covered world politics and economics for 30 years, based in Europe, the US, and Latin America. He joined the Telegraph in 1991, serving as Washington correspondent and later Europe correspondent in Brussels. He is now International Business Editor in London.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (from the top) Facebook – yahoofinance (advert); goodcars.co.nz – Finance your next car (advert); nzvf.co.nz – New Zealand Vehicle Finance (advert)

Unhappy, ruined #overpoweredbythugs

Received from Anonymous
Sat, 19 Jul 2014 at 10:11 a.m.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium: DVML, mothballing, and ‘those TVs’ #LGOIMA

Received from Lee Vandervis
Tue, 24 Jun 6:20 p.m.

I am disappointed in the complete indifference of the local press regarding info I have sent them on the scandalous $1.3 million of new flatscreen TVs DVML bought when they already had 94 TVs and were already grossly unable to meet budgets. –Vandervis

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 12:23:54 +1200
To: Chris Morris [ODT], Debbie Porteous [ODT]
Cc: Nick Smith [ODT; Allied Press Ltd]
Conversation: stadium
Subject: Re: stadium

Hi Chris and Debbie,

My understanding is that mothballing the stadium is not being seriously considered, but that it should be to at least give us a sunk-costs base-line to recognise how much keeping the doors open is costing us.
The one-off cost of buying and paying the interest on the stadium is damaging enough with out the continuous massively subsidised ridiculous running costs.

It is a shame that DVML have been allowed to run as an out-of-control Council Trading Organisation for far too long, and that DCC failure to get DVML to operate responsibly as required by their Statement of Intent has encouraged profligate spending, such as buying $1.3 million of new flat screen TVs with fancy computer controls, when they already had 94 new flat screen TVs. [see attached DVML LGOIMA responses] Spending $1.2 million on unauthorized temporary seating, and buying an unauthorized specifically Council-denied growlight system [to keep the turf growing] are two other examples. Despite this the Mayor and other Councillors seem to be happy for years now to keep throwing millions at DVL/DVML.
I have often said that before we seriously consider closing the stadium doors we should strip DVL/DVML of their staff, directors and overheads, appoint a DCC in-house manager to run the stadium along Edgar Centre lines using volunteers including Rotary as was done with Carisbrook, fit a low-maintenance artificial turf to allow everyday use, and see how cheaply the stadium could really be run. Only then would we be in a position to decide whether keeping it open was possible long term.

I have sent original info re DVML’s profligate spending on newer TVs and their disposal of ‘old’ flat screens in separate emails.

Cheers,
Lee

—— End of Forwarded Message

****************************************

Email 1

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 12:12:59 +1200
To: Chris Morris [ODT], Debbie Porteous [ODT]
Cc: Nick Smith [Allied Press Ltd]
Conversation: LGOIMA response and new questions
Subject: FW: LGOIMA response and new questions

From: Kim Barnes [DVML]
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2014 00:45:59 +0000
To: Lee Vandervis
Cc: Sandy Graham [DCC], Terry Davies [DVML], Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Subject: RE: LGOIMA response and new questions

Dear Councillor Vandervis

Please find attached the response to your request in relation to your LGOIMA request dated 9 May 2014. Attached also is a record of the payments made by staff and Directors for the purchases of the second hand televisions.

Kind regards
Kim

Kim Barnes
Marketing & Communications Manager [DVML]

Downloads:
Record of Payment (PDF 836 KB)
ClrVandervis030614 (PDF, 129 KB)

—

From: Lee Vandervis
Sent: Friday, 9 May 2014 2:47 p.m.
To: Kim Barnes [DVML]
Cc: Sandy Graham [DCC]; Terry Davies [DVML]; Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Subject: Re: LGOIMA response and new questions

Thank you Kim for Mr Davies responses to my questions.

Unfortunately some of my questions have not been answered.
Question 2 asks whether DVML realised at the time they bought the new Stadium TV software package that the existing 94 TVs were incompatible.
Can you please respond – yes or no – whether DVML realised they were buying a software package that was incompatible with the stadium existing 94 TVs?

Question 5 asks who was responsible for keeping the records referred to in “Unfortunately no record has been found of these actions or conversations”.
My ‘who’ question has not been answered – was it a management requirement lapse, or was it simply a staff member filing error, or some other subcontractor’s recording lapse?

Question 6 asks who was responsible for the damage causing seven TVs to be discarded? Does the “where no blame can be attributed” response mean that nobody was held responsible for the destruction of these seven TVs? Was any insurance claim made for the damaged TVs?

Question 7 requests copies of original paperwork confirming payments for stadium TVs supplied to DVML staff and directors. Thank you for supply copies of invoices, but it is proof of payment original paperwork that I have asked for. Can you please forward copies of this ‘confirming payment was made’ paperwork?

Your response also raises some additional questions which I wish to pose now as an additional LGOIMA request for information:
TV sale invoices variously describe TVs as “new” “second-hand” or just as “TV”.

Question A – are the “new” TVs so described actually new, and if so why are these new TVs being sold so cheaply? Are the sold ‘new’ TVs from the original 94, or from the subsequent 165 TVs? Are the second-hand TVs from the original 94 or subsequent 165 TVs or both? Of the TVs sold to staff/directors that are neither described as new or second-hand, which were new and which were second-hand?

Question B – why do the TV sale invoices vaguely refer to a generic TV type and not specify the actual TV unit by way of model number or serial number as is required in “a description of the goods” on a GST invoice?

Question C – What is the total number of TVs now in the stadium, and how many are from the original 94 TVs and how many are from the more recent purchase of 165 TVs?

Thank you for the information that you have provided so far as it has helped to clarify some aspects of the $1.3 million cost of the second full stadium TV system excluding the original stadium 94 TVs system.

Kind regards,
Cr. Lee Vandervis

—— End of Forwarded Message

****************************************

Email 2

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 12:12:07 +1200
To: Debbie Porteous [ODT], Chris Morris [ODT]
Conversation: LGOIMA response
Subject: FW: LGOIMA response

From: Kim Barnes [DVML]
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 03:02:38 +0000
To: Lee Vandervis
Cc: Sandy Graham [DCC], Terry Davies [DVML], Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Subject: RE: LGOIMA response

Dear Councillor Vandervis

Please find attached the response in relation to your LGOIMA request dated 1 April 2014 along with copies of invoices as requested.

Kind regards
Kim

Kim Barnes
Marketing & Communications Manager [DVML]

Downloads:
Staff purchase invoices (PDF, 615 KB)
ClrVandervis290414 (PDF, 101 KB)

—

From: Lee Vandervis
Sent: Tuesday, 1 April 2014 10:17 p.m.
To: Kim Barnes [DVML]
Cc: Sandy Graham [DCC]; Terry Davies [DVML]; Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Subject: Re: LGOIMA response

Dear Kim,

Thank you for finally providing me with a response. 8 weeks for this response is unacceptable however and the excuse given that “the request is for a large quantity of official information or necessitates a search through a large quantity of information” is not credible.

The answers you have provided raise further questions as follow, to which I expect answers within a normal LGOIMA timeframe:

1 – Who decided to buy the first 94 stadium TVs and on what advice?
2 – Did DVML realise at the time they bought the new stadium TV software package that these 94 TVs were incompatible?
3 – What “increased revenue” has resulted from purchasing the newer 165 TVs and stadium TV software package?
4 – What has been the total cost of the stadium TV software package, the 165 TVs and associated installation costs? Please itemize.
5 – Who at the stadium was responsible for keeping the records referred to in “Unfortunately no record has been found of these actions or conversations”?
6 – 7 of the 94 TVs have been “Discarded due to being damaged”. Under what circumstances have so many TVs been damaged and who has been held responsible?
7 – Please forward copies of original paperwork confirming payments for stadium TVs by staff members, and payments by DVML Chair Sir John Hansen and DVML Director Peter Stubbs.

Kind regards,
Cr. Lee Vandervis

On 1/04/14 5:48 PM, “Kim Barnes” wrote:
Dear Councillor Vandervis

Please find attached the response in relation to your LGOIMA request dated 5 February 2014 along with a copy of the release being forwarded to the ODT.

Kind regards
Kim

Kim Barnes
Marketing & Communications Manager [DVML]

—— End of Forwarded Message
{See also correspondence via posts made on 3 April 2014. -Eds}

—

Related Posts and Comments:
18.6.14 Crowe Horwath Report (May 2014) – Review of DVML Expenses
14.6.14 NZRU ‘hustles’ towns and cities to build stadiums
12.6.14 Fairfax Media [not ODT] initiative on Local Bodies
9.6.14 DVML: Crowe Horwath audit report (Hedderwick)
3.6.14 DCC unit under investigation
2.6.14 Stadium costs ballpark at $21.337 million pa, Butler & Oaten
█ 3.4.14 DVML: Lost in transaction II (flatscreen TVs)
█ 3.4.14 DVML: Lost in transaction (flatscreen TVs)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

[Punctuation in the string of correspondence lightly edited and highlighting added; all email addresses removed. -Eds]

NZRU ‘hustles’ towns and cities to build stadiums

What happens to our cathedrals, the large stadiums found in every major centre, if we lose faith?

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00 14/06/2014
Sport
What about the state of New Zealand stadiums?
By Matt Nippert
[Excerpts from a longer article…] The covered 31,000-seat Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, constructed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, may be the newest major sporting facility in the country but has already proved the most controversial. The bulk of its $224 million construction cost came from Dunedin City Council, but ongoing costs to ratepayers have caused considerable angst. Ratepayers were forced into a $2.3m bailout in May, and are mulling whether a permanent annual subsidy will be required to keep it running.

Getting to grips with exactly how much stadiums cost is a tricky exercise. Construction has often been piecemeal, with grandstands redeveloped or rebuilt over time, blurring total capital expenditure. And determining operational costs – whether stadiums require ongoing contributions by ratepayers – is further complicated by many facilities being run from within city councils or by council-controlled organisations. This makes the extraction of a discrete set of accounts, most notably in Dunedin and Waikato, an impossibility.

Analysis of accounts for Wellington and Auckland, run by dedicated trusts and two of the most transparent stadiums, shows that break-even is realistically the best case.

At New Zealand Rugby headquarters, chief executive Steve Tew broadly agrees that the glory days [of attendance at games] are over. Viewers watching broadcasts of a game have supplanted punters going through stadium turnstiles.

But there is one niche where the faith of the rugby faithful remains strong: All Blacks tests. Hosting the national team is often the only time stadiums up and down the country reach capacity.

While great for New Zealand Rugby coffers, Massey University’s Sam Richardson says the All Blacks have warped stadium construction priorities. “It’s an absolutely huge detriment. If you’re building a stadium where the financial viability year to year relies on an All Blacks test, there’s no question New Zealand Rugby plays a massive part in whether these facilities are going to be used to their potential,” he says.

Canterbury University economist Eric Crampton says building capacity for a solitary annual All Black test is akin to “buying a six-bedroom house just in case both sets of grandparents come to visit at the same time”. Crampton says the proliferation of large loss-making stadiums, both in New Zealand and worldwide, has been mainly because of the economic equivalent of hustling. “Sporting teams have been able to convince councils all over the place – and have been able to play them off against each other by threatening to move – to build excessive stadiums.
Read more

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“Fifa, like the International Olympic Committee, is widely regarded as corrupt. In that, it reflects our flawed species; while capable of fabulous feats, a dark side lurks.”

### ODT Online Sat, 14 Jun 2014
Editorial: Revelling in sport
OPINION As Dunedin and the South gear up for the excitement of tonight’s rugby test in the city, a sporting event in another league entirely kicked off yesterday.
Read more

█ Garrick Tremain – 14 June 2015

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 Submissions due by 15 April

### ODT Online Fri, 11 Apr 2014
Draft budget feedback pretty good: council
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council says feedback on its draft budget has been “pretty good” despite some disappointing turnouts at public meetings in recent weeks. The council concluded a series of eight public meetings and drop-in sessions with a discussion of cycleway and road-widening work on Otago Peninsula at the Edgar Centre on Tuesday night.
Public submissions on the council’s 2014-15 draft annual plan were “flooding in now” and had reached 427 by late yesterday, council corporate planner Jane Nevill said. That was well above the 262 submissions received by the council on its 2013-14 draft budget.
Read more

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DRAFT DCC ANNUAL PLAN 2014/2015
The draft annual plan sets out the Council’s proposed annual budgets and performance measures for 2014/15 and updates the information for the 2014/15 year that in contained in the Council’s ten year plan or Long Term Plan (LTP) which was put in place last year.
Please tell DCC whether you agree or disagree with spending priorities for 2014/15 outlined in the draft plan by making a submission.
The consultation period is your opportunity to “Have Your Say” about what you want to see included in the Council’s plans.

█ Submissions close at 5pm, Tuesday 15 April 2014.
Timeframes and Meeting times

█ Read more (with downloads):
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/draft-annual-plan-2014-2015

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Related Posts and Comments:
30.3.14 Paul Pope on local body annual plans
20.1.14 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DVML: Lost in transaction II (flatscreen TVs)

Received from Lee Vandervis
Thursday, 3 April 2014 9:37 p.m.

Interesting to note how little of the below ended up in the ODT story!

—— Forwarded Message
From: Kim Barnes [DVML]
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2014 04:48:04 +0000
To: Lee Vandervis
Cc: Sandy Graham [DCC], Terry Davies [DVML]
Subject: LGOIMA response

Dear Councillor Vandervis

Please find attached the response in relation to your LGOIMA request dated 5 February 2014 along with a copy of the release being forwarded to the ODT.

Kind regards
Kim

Kim Barnes
Marketing & Communications Manager [DVML]

.
Attachments
• ClrVandervis310314
• Samsung-TV-invoice-1
• Samsung-TV-invoice-2
• Media Release 310314

—— End of Forwarded Message

█ Cr Vandervis’ reply, a further LGOIMA request:

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 22:17:25 +1300
To: Kim Barnes [DVML]
Cc: Sandy Graham [DCC], Terry Davies [DVML], Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Conversation: LGOIMA response
Subject: Re: LGOIMA response

Dear Kim

Thank you for finally providing me with a response. 8 weeks for this response is unacceptable however and the excuse given that “the request is for a large quantity of official information or necessitates a search through a large quantity of information” is not credible.

The answers you have provided raise further questions as follow, to which I expect answers within a normal LGOIMA timeframe:

1 – Who decided to buy the first 94 stadium TVs and on what advice?
2 – Did DVML realise at the time they bought the new stadium TV software package that these 94 TVs were incompatible?
3 – What “increased revenue” has resulted from purchasing the newer 165 TVs and stadium TV software package?
4 – What has been the total cost of the stadium TV software package, the 165 TVs and associated installation costs? Please itemize.
5 – Who at the stadium was responsible for keeping the records referred to in “Unfortunately no record has been found of these actions or conversations.”
6 – 7 of the 94 TVs have been “Discarded due to being damaged”. Under what circumstances have so many TVs been damaged and who has been held responsible?
7 – Please forward copies of original paperwork confirming payments for stadium TVs by staff members, and payments by DVML Chair Sir John Hansen and DVML Director Peter Stubbs.

Kind regards,
Cr Lee Vandervis

—— End of Forwarded Message

█ Cr Vandervis sent Kim Barnes’ email with attachments to Chris Morris [ODT] with this cover message:

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 22:33:30 +1300
To: Chris Morris [ODT]
Cc: Nick Smith [Allied Press Ltd]
Conversation: LGOIMA response
Subject: FW: LGOIMA response

Hi Chris

Again as with DVML purchase of Turf Grow Lights which Councillors had decided were not to be bought, DVML disappoint at every turn in their spending and disposal of so many TVs.
They have taken an unacceptable 8 weeks to respond to my request to account for Stadium televisions whereabouts and to provide original purchase invoices.
It appears that they wish to blame an unidentified group or individual for buying the original 94 ‘old technology’ stadium TVs which they claim were unsuitable and that they have bought 165 newer TVs which are an “essential tool in any stadium”. I wish to know who decided to buy the first 94 TVs and on what advice, and whether DVML realised at the time they bought the new software package that these 94 TVs were incompatible.
The 165 newer TVs costing $145,000+ are claimed by DVML to “provide increased revenue opportunities” because they can be operated by a ‘Cisco Stadium Vision software package’ allowing individual imaging.
DVML claim to have gone through an involved process to determine the value for sale of the first 94 ‘outdated’ TVs, but “Unfortunately no record has been found of these actions or conversations.”
28 of the original 94 TVs continue to be used around the stadium making a total now of 193 stadium TVs, more than double the original number.
7 of the 94 TVs have been “Discarded due to being damaged”. Under what circumstances have so many TVs been terminally damaged and who has been held responsible?
Sales of the original TVs have been made “to staff and two DVML board members, Sir John Hansen and Peter Stubbs”. I have asked to see original paperwork confirming payments by staff members, and payments by DVML Chairman Sir John Hansen and Board Member Peter Stubbs.

My request for confirmation of stadium TV whereabouts was made in response to public questions to me concerning purchasing accountability at the stadium.

I look forward to getting further answers to more questions raised by DVML’s unacceptably slow response.

Kind regards
Cr Lee Vandervis

—— End of Forwarded Message

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Related Post and Comments:
3.4.14 DVML: Lost in transaction (flatscreen TVs)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DVML: Lost in transaction (flatscreen TVs)

OFF THE BACK OF A TRUCK | RECEIVING | POSSESSION
This story finally broke and not without its share of cover-up still in place. TVs for the boys. Ratepayers paid. Woops, no papertrail.

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### ODT Online Thu, 3 Apr 2014
DVML defends TV sales to staff, board
By Chris Morris
A decision to sell surplus televisions at Forsyth Barr Stadium to the venue’s staff and board members is being defended by Dunedin Venues Management Ltd. The company, responding to Otago Daily Times questions, confirmed it sold 18 of the stadium’s older screens to DVML staff, board member Peter Stubbs and board chairman Sir John Hansen.
Read more

█ Stay tuned. More to come from deep inside DVML.

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Comment received from Rob Hamlin
Submitted on 2014/04/03 at 10:03 am

Posted today on McPravda’s comments in response to the latest DVML larrikin as reported in McPravda ….TVs this time. As I feel that its appearance there is unlikely, here it is:

“There is but one auction house in Dunedin, and I check its general goods auctions every week, and have done so for decades. As far as I know their nearest competitor is in Alexandra. I recall their sales of Carisbrook surplus items well.

I do not recall seeing bulk lots of high quality 26″-40″+ sized TVs offered for sale at this venue in the recent past. Or even individual ones that match this description. They usually have a good record of getting rid of stuff if the price is right and it looks like at $380 the price that they were prepared to accept was right – for SJH et al at least.

I do not doubt that the consignment records that would confirm their purported attempts to sell these items by public auction have also gone missing…..? Anyway, there’s always Trade Me – although how glass-fronted TVs that hang on the wall above head height get ‘badly scratched’ on a routine basis eludes me.”

Anyway one would have thought that ‘badly scratched’ second hand TVs were more of a student market – wouldn’t one?

It’s also odd that the DVML board appears to have had a precise knowledge of the availability of the company’s surplus TVs on the second-hand market, while at the same time being (apparently) completely ignorant of their previous CEO’s more-or-less concurrent availability on the same surplus/second-hand market!”

[ends]

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Received from Anonymous
Thursday, 3 April 2014 10:30 a.m.

[ends]

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Comment received from Russell Garbutt
Submitted on 2014/04/03 at 11:09 am

This is yet another shameful episode in the long history of the stadium and everything that flows from it. The sense of entitlement by those in power is probably not surprising, but unless those that are sucking voraciously on the teats of the public purse for their own nourishment are dealt to, then nothing will change.

I don’t believe for an instant any of the PR crap that has come from DVML in recent or past days and this includes this nonsense of finding TV sets are incompatible to the system now installed at the Foobar.

The Cisco system does use touch screens for some things, but for God’s sake, ripping out nearly 100 HD TV sets which would have been high quality models and hocking them off to the affluent Board members etc at rock bottom prices is nothing short of institutionalised incompetence in my view. Where is the DVML asset register? Quite clearly what went on here and it doesn’t take a genius to realise that there will be lots of bum covering going on.

I don’t accept one word about these things being scratched – just crap!!! Hansen should front up and show us pictures of where he has installed his new TV sets, ditto with Stubbs. Might be difficult if he has on-sold….

[ends]

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Related Posts and Comments:
22.3.14 DVML, ‘Money for jam…..fig jam’ [Guy Hedderwick story]
19.3.14 ORFU: Black-tie dinner, theft or fraud?
17.3.14 ORFU: Black-tie dinner on ratepayers
11.2.14 Stadium: ‘Business case for DVML temporary seating purchase’
20.12 13 DVML: No harassment policy or complaints procedure, really?
3.12.13 DVML issues and rankles [Burden’s reply]
30.11.13 DVML in disarray [see recent comments and historical links]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Paul Pope on local body annual plans

Is the Annual Plan like Christmas? Photo: Paul Pope

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Received.
Thursday, 20 March 2014 3:17 p.m.

http://paul-pope.co.nz/2014/03/20/is-the-annual-plan-like-christmas/
I wrote this on my personal political blog partly for my own amusement, you might find parts of it amusing also, though it does have a serious message regarding participation and scrutiny of the local government annual planning process. I’m trying to write more about issues in our area.
Regards

Paul Pope
Deputy Chair Otago Peninsula Community Board

Read Paul’s personal blog about life and issues on the Community Board at www.paul-pope.co.nz

****

DRAFT DCC ANNUAL PLAN 2014/2015
The draft annual plan sets out the Council’s proposed annual budgets and performance measures for 2014/15 and updates the information for the 2014/15 year that in contained in the Council’s ten year plan or Long Term Plan (LTP) which was put in place last year.
Please tell DCC whether you agree or disagree with spending priorities for 2014/15 outlined in the draft plan by making a submission.
The consultation period is your opportunity to “Have Your Say” about what you want to see included in the Council’s plans.

Submissions close at 5pm, Tuesday 15 April 2014.
Timeframes and Meeting times

Read more (downloads):
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/draft-annual-plan-2014-2015

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Related Posts and Comments:
20.1.14 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15

For more, enter the terms *draft annual plan*, *cull*, *cycle*, *dvml*, *hotel*, *stadium*, or *annual plan* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DVML in disarray

● DVML chief executive Darren Burden leaves 24 December, takes up rival role in Christchurch.
● Former DVML commercial manager Guy Hedderwick now part-time contractor, works from Adelaide.

### ODT Online Sat, 30 Nov 2013
Stadium defections, bookings prompt review
By Chris Morris
The board overseeing Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium has launched a management review amid high-profile defections and concerns the entertainment cupboard for this summer is ”a little bit bare”. Dunedin Venues Management Ltd board chairman Sir John Hansen, speaking to the Otago Daily Times, had a blunt message for music fans hoping for a stadium-filling concert this summer.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments: (updated 28.2.14)
26.2.14 Stadium costs, read uncapped multimillion-dollar LOSSES
11.2.14 Stadium: ‘Business case for DVML temporary seating purchase’
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass . . .
20.12.13 DVML: No harassment policy or complaints procedure, really?
3.12.13 DVML issues and rankles [Burden’s reply]
30.11.13 DVML in disarray
18.11.13 DVML: Burden heads to Christchurch #EntirelyPredictable
1.11.13 Council appointments (rumbles) [see comment]
12.10.13 DVML works media/DCC to spend more ratepayer money
4.10.13 DVML . . . | ‘Make the stadium work’ losses continue
20.8.13 DVML foists invoices on DCC
20.6.13 Stadium: DVML, DVL miserable losers! #grandtheftdebt
8.6.13 Stadium: Insurmountable debt but gosh, look at our numbers!
25.2.13 Darren Burden’s ratepayer subsidy bubble and other Fubar myths
29.1.13 Pecuniary interest: Crs Wilson and Thomson in events fund debate
30.12.12 To DVML Board, from Ian Tayor [sic]
11.12.12 Stadium: DCC runs amok with $750K annual subsidy to DVML
2.11.12 Stadium financials: Calvin Oaten on DVML, DVL and DCHL
2.11.12 Stadium financials: JimmyJones v Peter Hutchison (DVML) on accounting method
25.10.12 Council bid lacks cost/benefit analysis: Fifa under-20 World Cup 2015
19.10.12 LGOIMA request: Breakdown of DVML recruitment costs [emails]
19.10.12 Weak boys, Cull and Burden on rugby stadium
11.10.12 Darren Burden plays LGOIMA game like Davies #DVML #PsychoAnswer
22.8.12 DVML: North vs South game profit/loss [email]
26.7.12 Cull’s council thinks $750,000 per annum to DVML represents good value?
29.6.12 DCC recruitment process: DVML chief executive position
22.6.12 DVML chief executive recruitment
9.5.12 DVML report: $1.9 million loss
30.3.12 DCC refuses to release DVML six-monthly report until “most suitable time and forum” is found
14.12.11 Davies “in the middle of a conversation” – how to fudge DVML, DCC, ORFU and Highlanders
2.12.11 DVML gets into bed with ORFU
14.11.11 DVML, Guy, wth ?
28.10.11 DVML, DVL and DCHL annual reports
18.2.11 Audit New Zealand requires DCC to write to DVML

OLD NEWS

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00 03/06/2012
Dunedin’s House of Blame
By Steve Kilgallon
The prospect of yet more glittering new stadiums being constructed by ambitious city fathers – as being debated right now in Christchurch and Auckland – is met with scorn by some in Dunedin, where the saga of the Forsyth Barr Stadium has left a city divided and its ratepayers facing vast debts.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Annual Report 2012/2013

The annual report is now available at the DCC website and below.
It is provided by sections in .PDF format.

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Standard & Poor’s
Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, provides independent financial information, analytical services, and credit ratings to the world’s financial markets. For more information go to Standard & Poor’s.

● S&P Full Analysis Dunedin City Council (PDF, 321 KB)

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Annual Report Documents
Annual Report 2012/13 Full version (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Organisational and Financial Management Report, Significant Activities Report and Council NZIFRS Financial Statements

Annual Report 2012/13 Section 1 (PDF, 399.4 KB)
Organisational and Financial Management Report

Annual Report 2012/13 Section 2 (PDF, 448.8 KB)
Significant Activities Report

Annual Report 2012/13 Section 3 (PDF, 361.1 KB)
Council NZIFRS & Financial Statements

Annual Report 2012/13 Appendix (PDF, 172.6 KB)
Community Outcome Monitoring, Supplementary Information

Annual Report 2012/13 Summary (PDF, 531.8 KB)
Dunedin City Council Annual Report Summary

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OPEN MEETING ABOUT DCC FINANCES
When: Wednesday 27 November 5:30pm-7:00pm
Where: Meeting Room One, Municipal Chambers
ALL WELCOME – hosted by DCC Finance Committee

Related Posts:
23.11.13 DCC: Finance Committee [public forum] 27 November
17.11.13 DCC Finance Committee: Public meeting 27 November [INVITE]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Cull’s state of denial…

See previous post:
24.9.12 DCC against imposition of local government reforms

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Comment received.

Calvin Oaten
Submitted on 2012/09/25 at 7:43 pm

Dave Cull and Paul Orders submitting on the proposed local government reforms to a select committee hearing is entertaining to say the least.
Dave says “the DCC should be left to tackle debt levels and rates rises without new controls imposed by the Government”. Is he ‘avin a laugh’? It is just that which brought about the Government’s interest in this problem in the first place. He says rates and debt were two issues already at the top of his council’s agenda, and the Government’s proposed changes risked “unintended negative consequences”. He’s ‘avin a laugh again’. The man’s sense of humour knows no bounds. The proposed limit on rates rises would erode council’s previously “unfettered” ability to raise revenue through rates, he says. It’s almost like he is in a ‘drug rehabilitation programme’ and is in denial about his addiction. Classic response, don’t admit any problem, just leave me alone and I will sort it.
Sorry Dave, but you and your equally drug driven cohorts are in serious denial and the citizens are paying a very big price. He worries that to restrict them now would upset the ‘drug peddlers’ (banks) and cause the price to rise. That, of course would increase the pain and he just couldn’t stand that. It would seriously affect his sense of wellbeing and confidence in his own ability. The man is desperately in need of being loved by all.
Lee Vandervis, as our only hope, I hope you can mediate around that table and get some traction. I am not holding my breath.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr