The Maniototo Community Board yesterday agreed to reimburse one of its members for two water tanks for farmland he leases.
Board member Mark Harris has leased a Central Otago District Council-owned farm in Gimmerburn for about 22 years, and a neighbouring one for about three years.
He said both properties needed new 33,000-litre water tanks.
One of the old tanks leaked from a crack in the bottom and the other was powered by a windmill, which he said was frustrating, especially if it happened to empty when there was no wind to help refill it.
Under the terms of his lease, capital expenditure would normally be covered by a reimbursement when he left the lease, paid for by the incoming farmer, but improvements, maintenance and repairs are the lessee's obligation.
In a report to the board, council property officer Brian Taylor questioned which category the tanks should be in.
"The maintenance of tanks and water supply is not specifically mentioned [in the lease agreement], but would reasonably be expected to be included in the description of all improvements."
However, neither of the tanks could be effectively repaired and so "it would not be unreasonable to regard the new tanks as replacement items".
Mr Harris had already bought and installed the tanks, before approaching the board for money, because they were on sale.
Mr Taylor recommended the board cover the cost of one of those tanks on the basis the second tank "has not yet failed and ... the additional expenditure is not immediately justified".
Board members though were in agreement with chairman Barry Becker who suggested they cover the cost of both tanks to "get it over and done with".
The cost to the board was just over $7000 but the farm investment account had almost $28,000.
When a new lessee came in, that person would cover the cost of any improvements to the farm such as the tanks; the money going back to the board which had effectively acted as a bank.
While Mr Harris said he would have been happy if the board took Mr Taylor's recommendation to cover the cost of only one tank, he was grateful it had decided to pay for both.
Council property and facilities manager Mike Kerr said the council owned 124 properties throughout the district that were leased out.
Of that 124, 13 were properties of a horticultural or agricultural nature and totalled 1869ha. Five of those were farms, all in the Maniototo district, and totalled 1420ha.
He said some of those 13 properties were classed as recreation reserve land but had not been developed or used and so were leased out for grazing. Other properties were parcels of land that were endowed to the council by the Crown for income to help cover operating costs. Others were farms that had been bought by the council "decades ago to help establish young farmers".
