STADIUM LOSSES +$20M Ratepayer Subsidy each year : Not a Community Asset while Our Money flows OUT

So DDT, woops ODT, persist with their Stadium Support Policy after months of Nothing of Substance at the LOSS MAKING Stadium.

One feeble rugby test only.
Infrequent visits by grey-haired performers, jaded once-stars.

All this for +$20million each year on your Rates. The sinkhole of all Dunedin GOB stupidities, with a direct line to Mssrs MF and EE, dear friends of Queenstown.

The erstwhile owners of the local newspaper (and was it 23 delectable Rolls Royces and Bentleys later, as if Sunday night marshmellows by the roaring log fire) have the personal wealth to overlook the sheer theft by stealth and duff embellishment that is Dunedin’s LOSS MAKING stadium.

Many of us find our entertainment thrills, according to income or not…. via the tea leaves, payless YouTube, internet TV, Sky, or the treat of flying to venues elsewhere in New Zealand and overseas. Without having to insinuate ourselves into the Dog Stadium of #DUD.

Unless, you’ve a moronic Thugby itch, a weakness, a throwback in your understanding of national identity as brawl and brain injury…. and can live with just one test in a year, or more years…. to justify filching from the pockets of vulnerable citizens bullied into paying for Stadium indulgences of the rustler-wealthy and the toothless eroding upper echelons of the middle class.

Then a little Home Show for the Non-savers amongst us. Glory!

ODT 2.7.16 (page 1) | phoneshot by whatifdunedin

Dunedin’s 53,000 ratepayers (the hordes? far from it!) and the power users of Otago (via Aurora Energy, on notice to industry regulator, the Commerce Commission, because the lines company can’t fund sufficient renewals and upgrades to its working assets – not helped by annual subvention payments) are being Robbed Blind year in year out – to subsidise the council-owned Stadium debt servicing and operating costs.

This is a complete INJUSTICE.
All the games of tilted media Sway is the crippling joke landed upon those who dare to live South. More fool us for our obsequious, largely unquestioning gutless surrender.

In the midst of irresponsible property speculation, low-paying tourism-exploitation, and dairy industry shortfalls, no wonder it’s harder for people to meet rates, rents and basic weekly living expenses —or indeed to feed, clothe and home our very young and our school children, or to sympathetically and safely care for our elderly, and our homeless. Hell, just add the LOSS MAKING stadium as sprinkles on top.

New Zealand is now a Social-economic Monster and our Dunedin City Council is the frizzling Limb of that Heathen.

What faith a turnaround in our individual and collective fortunes at Dunedin as the +$20million pa Stadium RORT continues…. ?

The financial betrayal of the Chin and Climate-Change-Cull councils is WRIT LARGE as the hanging noose. The ANNUAL Stadium Subsidy – in raw terms – equals +$20million not available each year for Dunedin business diversity and development sufficient to create jobs as the much needed ratchet to gradually better standards of living for our most vulnerable residents.

So ODT, here’s the middle finger to your soul-destroying misfit editorial, Stadium’s true legacy (1.7.16), its deceitful posturing : an incendiary Insult to honest Dunedin people.

ODT, you socialise the parochial blindness, unquenchable greed and ultimate +$20million (annual) sins of the good old boys and flunky boosters. FO.

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Reality checks from MikeStk at ODT Online:

The stadium’s true legacy
Submitted by MikeStk on Fri, 01/07/2016 – 10:52pm.

The stadium’s legacy continues to be a litany of broken promises and financial mismanagement. They’ve largely been papered over by raising taxes to pay for all these missteps, this can’t be put behind us because we continue to be forced to pay and pay for these mistakes and lies.

Let’s list a few:

● Mr Farry started off, back during that first council election, promising us a stadium that would be completely privately financed and the ratepayers would simply be a backstop in case of disaster. In the end we’ll have paid more than $400m, $8000 per ratepayer.
● Then we were promised the stadium “would not cost a dollar over $188m”. Turns out they quietly spent more than $250m, forgetting things like toilets, kitchens, turnstiles and scoreboards, and neglected to include the cost of debt servicing. When we’re done it will have cost more than half a billion dollars, not including the ongoing losses from running the thing.
● Rugby promised to raise $50m in capital to pay for the stadium. They failed, then they had the DCC borrow the money and ‘sold’ the best seats cheaply to their own members with the intent that that would pay down those loans (at the same time taking income from DVML). This ended up on the books as ‘rent’ that DVML was paying DVL, crying poor DVML abandoned this plan and the council hit up the ratepayers to pay for rugby’s private fundraising – we’re still waiting for rugby’s promised private fundraising.
● We’ve twice bailed the ORFU out of impending bankruptcy, largly caused by their decision to push for the building of a stadium that grossly devalued their one asset, namely Carisbrook, that secured their bank loans. In a moment of insanity the council bought Carisbrook for twice what it was worth. Having done this once rugby continued to party up big, holding black tie events for which they could not pay the bills. For some strange reason we bailed them out again. Last year the ORFU made $1m – it’s time they started to pay back some of their debts
● Rugby’s CST promised us that the stadium would make a small profit, $175k/year. Wouldn’t that be great? Instead DVML charges too little for using the stadium, losing millions every year that are paid for by the ratepayers as subsidies to create a pretend profit.

It’s been pretty much a disaster, and those responsible have yet to be held accountable. [Abridged]

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A clarification at What if? Dunedin:

Mike
Sat, 2 July 2016 at 1:00 pm
For the record abridged from my response to this travesty was the final lines “… the various CST actors have mostly left town, the rugby crowd still don’t pay their way and wilfully neglect their promises to help pay for the stadium.”

The ODT also removed my contention that Farry’s original promise that the stadium would be privately financed “turned out to be far from the truth”. They also removed the adjective “their own stupidity” describing ORFU’s decision to push for a stadium resulting in the value of their one asset crashing to 0.

[ends]

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ODT: Firm has 3 weeks to pay Carisbrook $3.1m debt (2.7.16)
The buyers of Carisbrook have three weeks to pay the Dunedin City Council for the former sports ground after an earlier plan to subdivide and develop the site to meet the $3.1million debt did not eventuate.

This week ODT said the mild winter had produced an increase in rodents. ODT need look no further than the infestation at its own sainted house.

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Related Post and Comments:
1.12.14 Stadium Editorial Support strategy —ODT [see recent comments]

█ For more, enter the terms *stadium*, *orfu*, *rugby*, *carisbrook*, *pokies*, *dia*, *martin legge* or *bev butler* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Law Courts Hotel #sad

An institution. Great precinct and location for accommodation, what happened.
Enhance building performance, perfect for retrofitting and adaptive reuse.

### dunedintv.co.nz February 19, 2015 – 5:42pm
Law Courts Hotel in liquidation
The Law Courts Hotel in central Dunedin has been placed in liquidation. The hotel’s situated in lower Stuart Street, beside the Dunedin Courthouse. It’s been placed in the hands of liquidators by the High Court. Creditors owed money by the company have until the end of March to file claims. The sole director of the Law Courts Hotel is Mornington resident Leslie Scott. A financial report on the state of the business has yet to be made public. It was formally placed in liquidation last week.
Ch39 Link [no video available]

█ Wikipedia: Law Courts Hotel [edited]
‘One of the city’s most historic public houses and hostelries, the Law Courts Hotel, is located close to the Dunedin Law Courts (the courthouse) in Lower Stuart Street, in a large corner building with an Art Deco style facade (not the original frontage), directly opposite the Allied Press Building (the offices of the city’s main newspaper, the Otago Daily Times). Listed by Heritage New Zealand as a Category II historic place (List No: 2189). The prime location of this hotel near these two premises has greatly contributed to its history, as has its longevity (having originally been founded as the Auld Scotland Hotel in 1863).’ Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: wikimedia.org – ‘deco-tweaked’ by whatifdunedin

ORFU: Black-tie dinner, theft or fraud?

[screenshot]

• Dave Goosselink — Dunedin face (and voice) for TV3 News & Sports
• Samuel Gilchrist — social media handler for The Highlanders @Highlanders

Retweets by @whatifdunedin and @SearleJamie
• Jamie Searle — Southland Times racing reporter

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Correspondence received.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014 10:58 a.m.

From: Bev Butler
To: Steve Tew [NZRU]; Doug Harvie [ORFU]
CC: Murray Kirkness [ODT]; Steve Hepburn [ODT]; Rebecca Fox [ODT]; Ian Telfer [RNZ]
Subject: Black-tie dinner bill to be paid?
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 10:56:35 +1300

Wednesday 19th March 2014

Dear Steve

The following was posted on a local blogsite “What If Dunedin”.

“The conscience of the ORFU is totally absent. The normal procedure for staging an event such as the black-tie dinner is to budget all costs, set the entrance fees to cover those costs and establish a profit level. That is both normal and straightforward – some I’m sure, would say honest, business practice..

The way the ORFU operated was to set the costs, pay out the organiser – who just happened to be the wife of Laurie Mains – ignore the costs and bank the difference. Can anyone tell me that if this scenario happened with anyone else other than the dear old rugby-mad idiots on the Council involved, would this be tolerated? Not on your nelly. Can anyone tell me why this isn’t either theft or fraud?” *

What especially interests me about this post is the question posed as to whether theft or fraud is involved.
It feels like it to me but I’m not sure whether it would hold up in a court of law.
Maybe it could…maybe it couldn’t.
My limited understanding of the Crimes Act is that the hardest part to prove is intent.
In the case of the black-tie dinner, did the ORFU have any intent on paying the bill?
In my opinion, if they did they would have paid it when they received the money from the guests – because obviously it was the intent of the guests for their money to be paid for their evening out.
What do you think, Steve? I’d appreciate your view on this.

I noticed on twitter, media and rugby officials tweeting about this issue.
Strange how the Highlanders’ social media official, Samuel Gilchrist, refers to me as a ‘warmonger’ because I am asking for some honesty from the ORFU. The problem down here is that there is no decent leadership in rugby and hasn’t been for years.
We have Roger Clark as the current CEO of The Highlanders – he was the CEO of Southland Rugby Union at the time when they
they owed over $100,000 in booze. I fear that nothing much has changed.

I had hoped that with the new ORFU board that some leadership would be shown over the black-tie dinner scandal but, to date, that hasn’t happened. Change needs to come from the top so that people like Samuel Gilchrist understands that it is not okay to run off without paying your bills. He doesn’t seem to be able to figure this out for himself. I guess when things have been bad down here for so long those who can’t think for themselves look to the leaders for guidance which is lacking.

That is why I have turned to you, Steve, to finally show some leadership and right this wrong.

I hope I don’t have to continue to prod any deeper.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

Previous letter to Steve Tew deleted, read it here

[ends]

*Link to source

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Related Posts and Comments:
17.3.14 ORFU: Black-tie dinner on ratepayers
14.3.14 ORFU flush to pay creditors

For more, enter the terms *orfu*, *dinner*, *jeremy curragh*, *bailout*, *martin legge*, *dia*, *pokies*, *jokers*, *ttcf*, or *pokie rorts* in the search box at left.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ORFU flush to pay creditors

When asked whether the union would consider repaying some creditors who lost money when the deal was agreed to save the union from liquidation, Union chairman Doug Harvie said that would not happen.

### ODT Online Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Profit pleases ORFU
By Steve Hepburn
The Otago Rugby Football Union has recorded a $406,800 profit, just over two years after it faced going out of business because of debts of more than $2 million.
The union now has reserves of more than $500,000, and is predicting a small profit for the coming year. […] In March 2012, the union was a few days away from going out of business, with debts of $2.2 million and creditors failing to come to agreement. But a rescue package was nailed down and the union traded its way out of difficulty, albeit with some concessions from creditors.
Read more

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Correspondence received.

From: Bev Butler
To: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 07:31:59 +1300

Friday 14th March 2014

Dear Doug

In today’s ODT the ORFU have reported a profit of $406,859 for the 2013 financial year and a profit of $134,656 for the 2012 financial year. Part of this so called profit is just pocketing of monies from unpaid bills.

As you are fully aware, the ORFU ran up a DVML bill of $25,352 for their black tie fund raiser at the stadium on 5th August 2011. This was for food, booze, soft drinks and cleaning.

Not only did the ORFU run off without paying this bill but the ORFU paid no venue hire for this brand new venue. Then to top it off the ORFU pocketed $52,000 from this fundraising event into their ‘pot’ which then is reported as profit for the 2012 financial year.

The fact that the ORFU then pressurised the Council to ‘write it off’ does not excuse the ORFU from the moral obligation to pay this bill.

I was quoted in the ODT as saying this was ‘obscene’. It is like booking a large restaurant, gorging yourselves on all their food and drink and hospitality then doing a runner.

It is ‘obscene’ and I expect this bill to be paid in full.

Laurie Mains, and his wife, Anne-Marie, refused to answer questions as to whether Anne-Marie was paid for her services in organising this event. I actually have no problem with her charging for her professional services. What I do have a problem with is that it is standard practice for professional event organisers to ensure all outstanding bills are paid before the ‘surplus’ is paid to the organisation. This did not happen. I don’t know whether Anne-Marie was paid $10,000, $12,000 or even more but whatever the amount the issue is that the other bills should have been paid first.

I fully expect this bill to be paid as the ORFU did actually have sufficient funds to pay this bill as evidenced by the reported profit of $134,656 for the 2012 financial year.

I also remind you that the $350 [sic] guests to this black-tie dinner paid $250 per ticket which would have been paid with the understanding that this would cover the costs. When a function such as this is organised, the ticket price is to cover the costs of the meal, venue hire, cleaning etc. Once the bills are paid, then any surplus is genuine ‘profit’ and the organisation then can legally pocket this ‘profit’.

The fact that the ORFU pocketed this money instead of paying their bill is unacceptable.

It is time the ORFU did the decent thing and pay this bill.

Yours sincerely

Bev Butler

——————————

From: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
To: Bev Butler
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: RE: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 20:16:32 +0000

You have your facts wrong Bev – ALL creditors of ORFU have been satisfied in full, in one way or another.

I will not be responding to any further correspondence on this matter.

D J Harvie
Partner

Harvie Green Wyatt
(P O Box 5740, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. Phone +64 3 4775005 or +64 21 2234169. Fax +64 3 4775447

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From: Bev Butler
To: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: RE: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:43:19 +1300

Dear Doug

Saying that “ALL creditors have been satisfied in full, in one way or another” is not the same as saying that all creditors have been PAID in full.
I know it is uncomfortable for you to be reminded of this but it still does not excuse the ORFU from doing the decent thing and paying their obscene black-tie dinner given they already had the money but decided to pocket it instead.
How about showing some decency or goodwill towards those that bailed you out of your financial mess now that you are flush with $406,859 profit?

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

[ends]

For more, enter the terms *orfu*, *dinner*, *jeremy curragh*, *bailout*, *martin legge*, *dia*, *pokies*, *jokers*, *ttcf*, or *pokie rorts* in the search box at left.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Sweet nothings [email], yo Laurie and Wayne!

Received.

From: bevkiwi@hotmail.com
To: laurie.mains@comlink.co.nz; wgraham.admiral@ljh.co.nz
Subject: Defamation spoils
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:11:40 +1200

Tuesday 24th July 2012

Dear Laurie and Wayne

The black tie dinner DVML bill has still not been paid.
Thought I would email you again and ask Laurie if his wife, Annemarie, intends paying back the $10,000+ she paid herself before paying all the other bills?
My understanding is that professional event organisers ALWAYS pay ALL the bills before handing over the ‘surplus’. Remember Jeremy Curragh stated that $52,000 went into the ‘pot’ but as we know some of the bills hadn’t been paid. Your mate, Ian Taylor, was obviously annoyed but as he has now quietened down, is it safe to assume he was paid off?

As for the defamation, if you get a nice wee tidy sum out of the ratepayers, what do you intend doing with it?
Will you pay the black tie dinner DVML bill then?
Or build another multi-million dollar house to make yourselves feel like you’ve really, really made it?
Maybe you could explain to me why you are suing Cull ie the city.
What did he say that was untrue? I read his comments and thought they were rather tame compared to what I think of the ORFU. As reported in the ODT I thought it was obscene the ORFU running off after their black tie dinner and not paying their bill for all the booze, food and cleaning. Still think that.

Spare a thought in your quieter moments, sitting in your multi-million dollar houses in Wanaka, for the little old ladies in South Dunedin who can’t afford to heat their homes in winter. Some of them go to bed during the day to keep warm. And you two still only see your glass as half full. Take another look. Your glasses are already bulging. Why do you want to take more money from the city, from the poor who barely have enough to keep themselves warm?

I hear your ‘feelings were hurt’ at the ORFU being referred to as ‘incompetent’.
Is it competent to run off without paying your bills?
Is it competent to put $52,000 in your own ‘pot’ and not pay those bills?
Is it competent to even call it a surplus when all the bills were not paid?
Is it competent to apply for grants from community trusts and then use that money for unauthorised purposes?
Is it competent to set up 3 pokies bars in South Auckland and siphon off the money ($6m) to ORFU?
Is it competent to run a business and spend more than you earn year after year after year?

Thought the following story just might reach your tenderloins if not your loins:

Poor pair give cash find to Brazil police (Link)
10:03 Tue Jul 10 2012AAP

A homeless Brazilian couple have found a garbage bag filled with money and promptly handed it to police.
Officials said the pair were out for a dawn stroll when they found a briefcase and a garbage bag filled with 20,000 reals ($A10,000).

They alerted police.

“When we arrived, the couple gave us the money. It might be the money stolen last week from a Japanese restaurant,” said military police spokesman Bruno dos Santos on Monday.

The pair “had the opportunity to flee with the money … What they did is commendable,” he said.
Jesus Silva Santos, the man who found the money, said he earned about 14 reals a day from collecting rubbish for recycling.

“My mother taught me never to steal,” he said.

Sincerely

Bev Butler

Ph 4776861

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

New board for ORFU not formed, deadline shifts for bailout

### ODT Online Wed, 23 May 2012
Rugby: Wait for new ORFU board continues
By Steve Hepburn
The wait continues. The new board of the Otago Rugby Football Union was not named yesterday as expected as negotiations drag on over an agreement between parties involved in the bail-out of the union. The union came to an agreement with its major creditors in March to stave off liquidation and that agreement was to be finalised by the middle of this month. But contracts were still being worked on by parties and had not been signed off by yesterday.
Read more

QUESTION In light of revelations about the ORFU’s unauthorised use of funds received from charitable trusts to solve its liquidity problems, and if the ORFU has been trading while insolvent, is the Dunedin City Council reconsidering its position in regards to the ORFU bailout package? It should, the Council owes ORFU nothing.

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Related Posts:
23.5.12 Latest: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
22.5.12 Join ORFU board, without forensic audit to show how millions…
20.5.12 Update: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
18.5.12 Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Join ORFU board, without forensic audit to show how millions went west?

The Otago Daily Times believes the two members from the old board will be Andrew Rooney and John Faulks.

### ODT Online Tue, 22 May 2012
2 ORFU members retained?
By Steve Hepburn
The new board of the Otago Rugby Football Union is expected to be named today and is likely to include two faces from the old board. The six-member board was to have been named last Tuesday but legal issues and a short period to interview applicants and make appointments forced an extension.
Read more

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[Eionland connections]

The six-member board?

● Andrew Rooney (Dunedin investment adviser, Forsyth Barr; Air Force Liaison Officer, Otago Region; former Engineering Officer, RNZAF; past chairman, Dunedin Rugby Football Club)

● John Faulks (Dunedin managing director S R M Realty Ltd – Southern Wide Real Estate; previously stock and station and banking industries; coached Otago junior age group teams)

● Simon Spark (Arrowtown self-employed contractor/linesman; co-owner of Dakins Waste Solutions Ltd; Arrowtown club president; news; Mr Nice Guy 2011)

● Keith Cooper (Dunedin chief executive, Silver Fern Farms)

● Doug Harvie (Dunedin chartered accountant, Harvie Green Wyatt)

● Kelvin Collins (Queenstown real estate agency owner, Harcourts; links with Wakatipu club)

Or simply ask ORFU change manager Jeremy Curragh about the trust monies that will need to be refunded as they weren’t spent on the authorised purpose; this “happened on a number of occasions due to ORFU facing cashflow problems”. He says “The money is not “missing” rather it was used to pay other creditors.” Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ORFU still owes small creditors ($687,000), DCC ($480,000+), NZRU ($500,000) and BNZ ($1,200,000)

How will ORFU continue to trade? $400,000 in donations received doesn’t absolve the union of its obligations.

### ODT Online Tue, 17 Apr 2012
Rugby: New Otago board by end of May
By Steve Hepburn
A new board to run the Otago Rugby Football Union should be in place by the end of next month, with clubs to be consulted over a reworked constitution in the next couple of weeks. The union is also hoping to have raised about $400,000 to pay off its small creditors.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Rob Hamlin: The ORFU’s small creditors: If I was one of them…

This post received today from Rob Hamlin was first submitted to the Otago Daily Times for publication at The Analyst blog. The newspaper’s suggested edits are shown in italics.

The conduct of the ORFU over the last couple of years has left a legacy of some 180 small creditors owed some 680,000 dollars. These traders now face a difficult situation, which the recent activities of various well placed worthies have done little to alleviate. These traders now have to make simultaneous decisions on two major matters rather than one. They have to decide whether to pursue their debts. But they also have to make up their minds whether they will continue to trade with the undead but still insolvent ORFU ‘zombie’ organisation that these worthies have rescued from an imminent, thoroughly justifiable and necessary corporate execution and autopsy process. It is most unusual for an organisation of this size, in such an apparently ruinous financial state and with such a poor track record of settling its debts over such an extended period of time to survive a crisis such as this. The fact that this is not a private limited company, but is an incorporated society takes us into completely new and unknown territory.

By a mixture of vague promises and third party support, the ORFU appears to have extricated itself from around three quarters of its multi-million dollar debt on consistent terms of a cash return of zero cents on the dollar. In all cases, except possibly the bank, they also seem to have secured agreements that trade, and presumably credit will continue to be furnished to the ORFU on established or even enhanced terms by these creditor organisations.

A pattern has thus been established and it would be a reasonable presumption on the part of any of the remaining creditors that similar terms in both of these areas will be sought from them on a case by case basis when contact with the ORFU is established by each individual creditor, as the ORFU clearly desires. No general creditor meetings have been called. Only a rather cheeky request via the media appears to have been issued inviting these creditors to get in touch with the ORFU’s accountants individually – presumably if and when they feel that they need to.

Some commentators on the ODT website have noted that I am a specialist in food marketing, and have invited me to consider the supply and demand of pies within the rugby stadia of this town. The food industry is a brutal one, in which not getting paid is an ever present danger, and I therefore spend a good deal of my time teaching and advising on such matters. Their suggestion is therefore an excellent one, and I will discuss the first of these two issues – debt recovery from the ORFU, not from the point of view of an academic, but what the hypothetical owner of ‘The Pied Piemaker™’ Ltd (get it?) might do if they were owed some $12,000 by the ORFU.

ORFU position

### ODT Online Fri, 23 Mar 2012
Opinion: Blog: The Analyst
ORFU bailout – the big sausage and mug wash-up
By Rob Hamlin
As the last sausage sizzles itself into silence, it is now possible to examine the merits, if any, of the ORFU rescue extravaganza. As soon as the ORFU started extending its own life just over two weeks ago, it was pretty easy to see that there was about as much chance of the ORFU actually falling off the back of the gravy train as there was of Kate Winslet falling off the back of the Titanic only thirty minutes into the film.

The ORFU’s fiscal position has not been significantly changed by this rescue. It is still insolvent. It still owes more than $680,000 to small creditors. Its ongoing annual deficit to this point is in excess of $600,000, and the only savings that have been identified (maybe) are less than $300,000 in players’ wages. A return to positive cash flow can thus not reasonably be even expected, let alone guaranteed without some major and as yet unannounced development.

Read more
{The ODT link is no longer available. We are seeking advice. -Eds 3.4.12}

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DScene reflects on DCC’s unholy mess

### D Scene 21 Mar 2012
Butler lifts lid on ‘deception’ (page 2)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Stadium opponent Bev Butler has handed confidential project papers to council commissioned auditors in her bid for a major inquiry into Dunedin’s stadium project. Butler has passed previously withheld information to a PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic auditing team reviewing variances in stadium completion costs identified by the Dunedin City Council (DCC) earlier this month.
{continues} #bookmark

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Fury over bail-out of ORFU (page 3)
By Mike Houlahan
The Otago Rugby Football Union ‘‘desperately’’ needed to be put in to liquidation so it could be properly audited, Cr Lee Vandervis says. Vandervis was one of five Dunedin City councillors who voted against approving a bail-out of the cash-strapped ORFU in an extraordinary council meeting last Wednesday. […] The DCC’S decision came after a marathon night meeting and sparked immediate outcry. Council offices were flooded with angry calls and emails, and D Scene understands councillors who voted in favour have received abusive messages.
{continues} #bookmark

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We’re rugby-mad but not in a good way (page 7)
By Mike Houlahan – Editor
As the Otago Rugby Football Union faced liquidation, a lot of rhetoric was heard about a ‘‘proud rugby province’’ and the depth of feeling Otago had for the game. Otago, people said, could not be left in the lurch. Otago rugby administrators got caught up in the spirit. ORFU president Wayne Graham – a man who had looked aghast on February 27 when revealing the union’s plight – seemed stunned last Wednesday when interviewed on Campbell Live at 7pm. He thought the rescue package Dunedin City Council was weighing up at that moment was so good that they would sign the deal in half an hour, and seemed perplexed they were still thinking about it.
{continues} #bookmark

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Opinion (page 8)
The truth, the whole truth . . .
By Bev Butler
It is expected that every large project undertaken by a council will require extensive consultation with all ratepayers but the crucial element missing from consultation in this case [the stadium] was the requirement to adhere to the principles of good faith – openness and transparency – during the consultative process. It was that failure by the DCC to truly listen and act to placate the genuine concerns held by so many that draws the inevitable conclusion that the DCC totally failed to act in accordance with the Local Government Act 2002.
{continues} #bookmark

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

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC considers writing off ORFU’s $400,000 debt

Comment received.

MichaelA
Submitted on 2012/03/09 at 2:49 pm
The following appeared in stuff.co.nz this morning:

“It’s understood, that after intensive lobbying, the Dunedin City Council is considering writing off $400,000 in debt owed in rentals for use of the Carisbrook rugby ground.”

How come I see no mention of this important little paragraph in the ODT? Perhaps the ODT dare conduct an investigation and find out who/when/why/how etc. Your audience would love to know.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/provincial/6547500/Otago-rugby-buys-more-time-for-rescue

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Another expensive nut cracks, ORFU liquidated?

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 20:18 27/02/2012
Otago rugby union heading into liquidation
By Mike Houlahan – Fairfax NZ News
With debts of $2.35 million, and a loss from the last financial year of $862,000, the decision was made at a press conference in Dunedin tonight, with NZRU CEO Steve Tew and chairman Mike Eagle in attendance. The 126-year-old union, which has not held the Ranfurly Shield since 1957 or won the National Provincial Championship since 1998, will cease trading by Friday. The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) is taking immediate steps to support community rugby across the Otago region. “We are stepping in to support community rugby and all the amateur players, volunteers, administrators, and others who have a stake in the game,” said NZRU chief executive Steve Tew. Otago has a long and proud rugby history and the union has played a vital role in the rugby community for 131 years so this is a sad day.
Read more + Q&A

What does this situation mean for Forsyth Barr Stadium? (via Stuff)
The Highlanders still intend to play at the stadium and today’s events do not impact on that. The Highlanders will host their first home game for the season this weekend. Our desire is for a team from Otago to participate in the ITM Cup, but it is too early to discuss what will happen in that regard. Any issues relating to the financial impact on the stadium should a representative team from Otago not play in the ITM Cup are for the stadium owners to comment on.

http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/199277/orfu-be-put-liquidation

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr