Lighting, sound infrastructure and other equipment stripped out of the Dunedin Centre will have to be refitted after a decision to delay the venue's upgrade.
That refitting is expected to take two weeks, and comes on top of "damaged credibility" the venue has suffered from the delay.
The delay has resulted in an overall saving for the Dunedin City Council of $857,000 for the next financial year, and more than $3 million in the following two years, though the move is only deferring that spending.
Earlier this month, the council voted to rejig the timing of the $45 million Dunedin Centre and Dunedin Town Hall projects, as councillors tried to contain the size of this year's rates increase.
The changes meant the project would be staged, with work on the Municipal Chambers to start in June 2010, the Dunedin Centre in March 2011, and the town hall in September 2011.
A report prepared by Dunedin Centre manager Svend Tolson for a council meeting next Monday, called to approve the city's draft annual plan for the year, said groups that used the venues were already struggling to reschedule events after the announced closure last year, and this change to the timing again altered their situation.
The delay had allowed some affected bookings, such as University of Otago graduations, to be reinstated, but "business in 2010 will mainly be community-based, with little or no profit margin".
"The consequence is an additional $55,000 operating cost which will need to be covered by rates."
The lighting and sound infrastructure was removed in January in anticipation of the redevelopment, but would now have to be put back into operation.
The cost would not be significant, he said yesterday.
Mr Tolson suggested a marketing programme was needed to re-establish Dunedin in the conference market, as the delays "damaged the credibility of Dunedin as a venue".
Mr Tolson said the loss of credibility came from project timing changes the council imposed, when event bookings had already been confirmed.
Council finance and corporate support general manager Athol Stephens said the almost $4 million deferred by delaying the project related to the timing of raising debt for the project.
"It simply puts it off till a later date," he explained.
