A last-ditch effort by Cromwell Community Board members yesterday chopped the projected ward rates rise of 23.7% to 16.2%.
Last year, the board subsidised ratepayers $200,000 from the general reserves account, but this year that account is in deficit.
And this year, the board is faced with some larger-thanexpected costs for the new Cromwell Swim Centre, with the largest $129,000 for wages over and above the current budgeted figure of $95,460 for the 2008-09 year.
The board had expected to spend $331,811 on the Swim Centre during the next financial year; the figure is slightly more than the $317,881 to be collected for Cromwell's water supplies.
The original figure for Swim Centre wages had come from projections for the Molyneux Aquatic Centre in Alexandra, but the Alexandra Community Board has since discovered that estimate was seriously low.
The Cromwell board was told yesterday the Cromwell Swim Centre would now cost ratepayers $460,000 for the year, equating to 13% of the total ward rate take.
Other costs associated with the pool were an extra $15,000 for gas, $6000 for a new floorcleaner, $10,000 for a motorised pool cover remover and $2000 for poolside lockers.
Board members turned down a request for a $1500 barbecue.
Urban ratepayers who paid $63.13 per property this year for the pool and were expecting to pay $111.07 according to the long-term council community plan (LTCCP) for the next financial year, would actually face a bill of $144.000 next year.
The Swim Centre bill for each rural property would balloon from $39.40 to $90. One of the big-ticket items dropped without discussion yesterday was $1 million for the Cromwell Hall upgrade, although a small sum was set aside for further investigation.
Another project axed was the Cromwell Mall upgrade stage one, costing $500,000. Board members were frustrated that they could not access funds from large, currently confidential sales of council land in the Cromwell ward .
The board was told it could not use proceeds from the sales until the money had been received. The board was told considerable amounts would be available from about August this year.
Such was the frustration of board members yesterday that Cr Gordon Stewart suggested board members put their salaries on hold until August to help defray some of the rates rise and then collect a lump sum once the land money had been received.
Other members agreed to do this but in the end the move was not needed after chairman Neil Gillespie moved the board make $150,000 of the $300,000 being rated for the general development account available to the community board until other funds became available from land sales. His motion was passed unanimously.
This initiative dropped the rates rise to 16.2%, eliciting a huge sigh of relief from board members.
