Allocation of funding connected to water reform is set to be discussed again by the Dunedin City Council.
Distribution of the council’s "Better Off" funding will come up in the public-excluded part of a two-day council meeting that starts today.
Councils have been in talks with the Department of Internal Affairs about reallocating some money after the government wanted it redirected away from community wellbeing projects and towards activities clearly aligned with Three Waters.
An Internal Affairs spokesman said the department had continued to engage with the city council and other councils about redirecting unspent Better Off funding to invest in water infrastructure or support transitional or new activities.
"A new funding agreement was recently provided to Dunedin City Council as part of the process to formalise the proposed changes," he said.
"As we are still awaiting the return of this signed copy, we cannot confirm those changes at this time."
Better Off funding has sometimes been a fraught subject at the council.
In August, Dunedin Area Citizens Association chairman Lyndon Weggery said rates money needed to be used in the best way possible, "unlike the Better Off funding debacle".
He had earlier been critical of how little of the funding was used for Three Waters.
It also emerged the application process got off to a shaky start, as it seemed councillors were not in the loop about how money might be allocated.
City councillor Sophie Barker said in August she felt there had been a "step missing" from the council’s process — consultation with councillors about the nature of the application before it was sent to Internal Affairs.
The council "would’ve liked a more robust process" and to have had a better initial understanding of the funding allocation, she said.
A report at the end of June showed the council had not spent most of its $11.5 million share.
More than $8.9m of the funding remained.
