Cr Lee Vandervis, a consistent critic of council spending, highlighted projects such as the George St playground, cycleways and purchase of Forbury Park as being a questionable fit with declarations about concentrating on the basics.
‘‘Mayor Radich’s claims that we are primarily focused on the basics is misleading, first because he focuses on capital budgets and ignores the enormous operational not-basics staff budgets, and then because he claims that 50% goes on roading, property and waste management, which includes significant unaffordable not-basic roading costs for a slow-growth population,’’ Cr Vandervis said.
‘‘Was spending [$13.2million] on buying Forbury raceway a basic?
‘‘Was the $600,000 George St playground scrutinised line by line?’’
However, the mayor identified a series of decisions aimed at keeping a lid on spending and said the council had to look to the future.
‘‘While we have as a council decided to purchase Forbury, this is an investment in the resilience of our city and gives us options for the future,’’ Mr Radich said.
‘‘Feel free to ask South Dunedin residents if they think that’s important. I certainly do.’’
Neglect of basic infrastructure was not a viable path forward, he added.
Cr Sophie Barker weighed in, saying she was not quite of the ‘‘back to basics’’ mentality, but it was vital to get infrastructure right, properly funded and future-proofed.
‘‘There are definitely projects on [the] council’s list in the nice-to-have bracket,’’ Cr Barker said.
‘‘I’ve already sent a large list of questions around many of those projects to the CEO after our capital workshops.’’
Their commentary came after Minister of Local Government Simeon Brown announced reform aimed at directing councils to get back to basics, such as running essential services and fixing pipes and potholes.
Mr Radich said the city council was focused firmly on the basics already.
Cr Vandervis then objected to ‘‘tens of millions on planet-saving cycleways ... $10m on park-and-ride absurdity trying to get people to park out of the city centre and then bus into the centre, and ongoing speed-reduction bumps and barriers’’ and $9.5m for a parking plan he described as wayfinding and signs.
‘‘Some of these budgets are being trimmed for the [2025-34 draft long-term plan], but many millions in non-basic spending persist.’’
Mr Radich countered ‘‘accuracy is important when discussing budgets’’.
The council’s 2024-25 annual plan showed ‘‘transport spending has been slashed from what was previously projected, down from $50m to $40m, as well as $8m shifted from new projects to renewals’’, he said.
‘‘This spending is all about the basics, and there is only $1.9m for cycleways.
‘‘Carpark wayfinding has been slashed from $3.5m down to $1.2m.
‘‘Park and ride has no funding allocated.’’
