Call for report on financial effect

A Dunedin city councillor has called for an analysis "of just how much" the council spent to get the community through the Covid-19 lockdown.

At yesterday’s Dunedin City Council finance and council controlled organisations committee meeting, Cr David Benson-Pope called on the council’s finance department to produce a report that showed "the comprehensive analysis of the total direct and indirect costs" of the lockdown on the council.

"I think the community would be very interested, and very appreciative, to know just how much money its authority has tipped in to supporting this community over the past year and ongoing," Cr Benson-Pope said.

"And I think that should be highlighted in the public domain."

Council acting finance general manager Gavin Logie said Covid-19 resulted in a roughly $5.4million drop in revenue for the council over the course of the year.

Of that, $1.8million was due to the council’s allowance for free parking in the city over lockdown.

Lost revenue in property rent was about $900,000 for the three months.

There was also a shortfall due to aquatic services, the visitor centre, art gallery, libraries, and Olveston House being closed.

The report tabled at the meeting showed a net deficit for the council — excluding the Waipori Fund — of $9.3million.

Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins asked how much "granular" detail could be provided in a report into the effects of Covid-19 and whether the report would capture "causation" rather than correlation.

Nevertheless, Cr Benson-Pope said he wanted the report to be brought forward for the public in a "more accessible way" than looking through standard council reports.

When he introduced the report to councillors, Mr Logie said capital expenditure was "interesting".

The council spent $92.3million on capital expenses for the year, he said, below budget by about $32million.

"Obviously, that was below budget for a number of reasons," he said.

"But if you compare it to last year at $101million, given that we were out of action for a month and last year’s included a couple of property purchases of around $4million or $5million each, then actually this year’s not too bad relative to last year, which I think is quite positive.

"Obviously, our borrowing is short of budget and that’s again a reflection of our Capex [capital expenditure] is lower, partially offset by the fact we have had that shortfall in revenue."

At the meeting, Crs Christine Garey, Steve Walker, Lee Vandervis, Sophie Barker, Carmen Houlahan and Jules Radich asked for clarification or further information on aspects of the report.

Councillor support for a finance department report into the effects of Covid-19 was unanimous.

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz