"We are looking at a Ferrari when a Toyota will do," is how a Waitaki district councillor describes options costing up to $15 million to upgrade three Oamaru cultural facilities.
Cr Peter Garvan said yesterday in the current economic climate ratepayers could not afford the cost and he compared it, in relative terms, to Dunedin ratepayers' funding of the new Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The council has made no decisions on whether to proceed with a major redevelopment of the Oamaru Public Library, Forrester Gallery and North Otago Museum and Archives.
It has considered various proposals over the past few years, the latest of which projects a total cost for all three projects of between $13 million and $15 million.
In July last year, there was a proposal to redevelop the Forrester Gallery at an estimated cost of $5 million, followed in July this year by an $8 million redevelopment plan for the museum-archives and library.
Cr Garvan approached the Otago Daily Times yesterday to outline his opposition to spending up to $15 million on the three facilities, and said it should be "no more than $3 million to $5 million".
"These options [up to $15 million] are clearly unaffordable and there are no realistic financial projections as to how they are to be funded," he said.
The council still owed $3 million of the $10.3 million spent to upgrade the Opera House. That $3 million was to come from assets sales, and paying that was a first priority, he said.
The council recently set up a community building sub-committee to look at the three redevelopment proposals and make recommendations.
The subcommittee was made up of Crs Jim Hopkins (chairman), Sally Hope, Hugh Perkins and Helen Stead, with one representative each from the Friends of Forrester Gallery, Friend of the Library and museum advisory committee.
Cr Garvan said the representatives from the three community groups represented a very narrow section of the community and it was "hardly surprising" they were strong advocates for major expenditure in their areas of interest. They had also been granted voting rights, which Cr Garvan did not agree with.
He would like the subcommittee to restrict any proposals to a cost of between $3 million and $5 million from all sources, including outside grants and funding.
"This is realistic and affordable," he said.
He also felt a lift for the Forrester Gallery and resolving shortage of storage space in the archives should take priority.
