Otago councillors are concerned a rough road lies ahead for regional authorities funding roading projects.
A recurring theme at a Regional Transport Committee (RTC) meeting at the Otago Regional Council chambers in Dunedin last week, was uncertainty over allocation of national and regional road project funds.
Dunedin City Council committee representative Syd Brown said the contentious issue for councillors was reallocation of money from regional authorities' "R" budgets by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to fund projects previously paid for out of its national "N" funds.
The reallocation could lead to funding shortfalls for regional councils.
"The issue now is central Government is saying funding from petrol tax is not going to meet the country's needs.
So some sealing and paving projects with a high cost-benefit ratio, which we think meet the ["N"] criteria, have gone back to "R" funding, and will be paid for from the regional pot.
"The NZTA has now, without consultation, used regional funds for the Brydone passing lane on State Highway 1 [near Oamaru], which the RTC turned down.
"They ignored our assessment and have taken money out of the R pool," Mr Brown said.
Queenstown Lakes District Council cycling facilities costing about $160,000 had been funded from the regional pool.
"We learned it had not been funded by N funds when reading the agenda [for last week's meeting], and that work has started," Cr Brown said.
Similarly, Dunedin City $1.039 million pavement smoothing funding for the 2007-08 year was to have come from N funding, but money was taken from R funds.
"It's about a lack of communication.
"We're not sure who's controlling the purse.
"Regional councils still have to get approval for projects but under the previous arrangement we could prioritise according to regional needs.
We spent a lot of time saying we know what's in our patch, and now the NZTA is saying it wants to do projects we haven't even known about.
"We want to know what the rules are going forward and to have dialogue about who has ownership of the pool."
Cr Brown said he predicted problems when the funding mechanism was introduced three years ago, mainly because the RTC was provided with conflicting committee and funding guidelines.
However, some of the new "value" assessment criteria for projects were "good initiatives which will benefit the region in future".
When approving an extra $1.1 million for the Otago Peninsula Roading Project at last week's meeting, discussion turned to the need for urgency in approving and funding upgrades.
"The Caversham Valley four-lane extension is a classic example of a design that could have been built, and now the budget has to be tested.
Escalating costs will affect the pool and viability of projects.
Funding is not inflation adjusted.
By the time projects are bought, the $100 million is worth a lot less.
It's only going to buy $70 million if things are not done straight away," Cr Brown said.
Queenstown Mayor Clive Geddes said RTC members were seeking clarification.
"Our concern, and the DCC's, is projects we assume had received funding might not be funded.
"We need urgent clarification."
Reprioritising projects to satisfy N and R criteria would lead to a significant increase in council officers' and consultants' workloads, and the scope of work covered by the RTC would increase, he said.
Mr Geddes agreed with Cr Brown, that funds should be allocated quickly to avoid inflationary pressure "especially if there's a risk money might be reallocated to other projects".
