The Otago Regional Council was recently advised that a likely $1.3million funding shortfall was looming throughout the country, given Crown plans to cap reimbursement funding for regional councils involved in the scheme.
ORC chairman Stephen Woodhead said ministry chief executive Martin Matthews had given an assurance at a recent Local Government New Zealand Regional Sector Group meeting that the recent SuperGold Card review and capping were not intended to mean ratepayers would have to contribute.
"We are waiting for a letter to confirm this,'' Mr Woodhead said in a report tabled at a recent ORC meeting.
Mr Woodhead is also chairman of the LGNZ Regional Sector Group.
The reassurance from Mr Matthews has come against a background of rising concern about the potentially negative effect on regional council ratepayers.
Mr Woodhead told the Otago Daily Times the sector group was seeking a written assurance from Transport Minister Simon Bridges that there was no intention of posing "any risk to ratepayers' funds''.
Asked if insufficient Crown funds were being allocated to fund the scheme, Mr Woodhead said the Crown would ultimately be expected to provide more funding itself, if a written assurance was given that ratepayers were not expected to make good the shortfall.
The ministry had also been encouraging regional sector members to sign up for the planned new funding cap arrangements but there was still concern about limited funding under the planned cap and there was "no appetite'' to do so unless the funding situation was clarified.
Given an ageing population and other factors, there was a desire to encourage more people to use public transport.
It would be unfortunate if instead of increasing bus patronage, there was any disruption to existing users of the GoldCard scheme, through funding concerns, he said.
The Government plans to put an annual $25million cap on reimbursement funding to regional councils and other councils operating the SuperGold scheme.
The SuperGold free off-peak travel scheme, for people aged 65 or older, is a Ministry of Social Development-funded initiative, with the subsidy distributed by NZTA.
