Dunedin city councillors voted to approve a $20 million streetscape upgrade within the tertiary precinct area.
Councillors voted 14-1, with only Cr Lee Vandervis voting against the option.
After the vote, Cr Jim O'Malley put forward a motion that the council investigate how the University of Otago, Otago Polytechnic and other landowners could contribute to the upgrade.
Throughout the consultation process, many submitters questioned why the council would invest in the tertiary area when the university and polytechnic did not pay rates.
Cr Christine Garey asked if council staff could clarify the amount of rates paid by the two education providers.
Council financial controller Gavin Logie said the university did not pay general rates on its academic properties but it did pay some service rates which added up to about $2.8million this year.
Cr Kate Wilson said if the university and polytechnic were going to be asked to contribute, it was only fair businesses in the area were also asked.
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Comments
If the tertiary institutions will benefit from the upgrades, they should help pay for them.
Sounds simple enough to me.
I'm sitting back with my popcorn this isn't going to go well. But fair enough if I'm correct they don't pay rates. but does Dunedin really need this upgrade? maybe if the maintenance was done correctly. I recall many years ago my grandfather and father who have both passed on making comment of the main drag in town gutters disappearing as the roads where repaired over the top of the existing roads, slowly the gutters have disappeared. What about wet and forget water blasting the main streets, Does Dunedin need to spend all this money? One minute the DCC and the such like are rejecting new hotels because they don't fit into the current buildings scape, now the town has this new modern buildings being passed by the council, sounds dodgy, how can this be? guess it depends on who has wasta in the town