[comment caption=Should the council revisit its rates relief policy?]The Dunedin City Council granted Fisher and Paykel Appliances more than $450,000 rates relief in the past five years alone, but the head of the council's economic development unit says the money was justified.
A report to the council's economic development committee next Tuesday notes the Fisher and Paykel spending, and a further $7846 in rates relief to Tamahine Knitwear.
Both companies announced redundancies earlier this year.
Economic development unit manager Peter Harris said in the report the redundancies did not mean the support had been misdirected.
"At the time of the applications [for rates relief], there were no indications that the future of either business was under threat, and it is impossible to guarantee that any business supported will continue to grow and thrive."
He backed that up when contacted yesterday, and said "there is no certainty in life".
If the council supported businesses only where there was certainty of no change, it would support no businesses at all, he said.
The council's rates relief for Fisher and Paykel goes back further than five years, but Mr Harris said he saw no point in tallying the whole figure.
"I haven't gone there."
Mr Harris' report, an update for councillors on the closures, said the unit would work to help ensure the industrial land which Fisher and Paykel would be vacating was put to the best productive use.
He said yesterday the land was privately owned, and it was up to the company to decide what to do with it.
But the unit would do its best to facilitate "a good result" if an employer was found for the site.
The Ministry of Social Development was leading the job search for those to be made redundant, and while staff had yet to become available, more than 50 businesses had registered an interest in employing them.
