On July 8 it was announced the Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) had sold 24.99% of new shareholding to Auckland International Airport Ltd (AIAL) for $27.7 million, the latter having an option to increase its shareholding to 35% by June 30, 2011.
Since the deal became public, many Queenstown businessmen and the Chamber of Commerce have joined forces to lambast both Mr Geddes and the QAC board of directors over the sale.
Despite those continued criticisms, Mr Geddes remains positive about the alliance.
Asked if the issue was dividing the community, he replied: "Not from where I sit".
Feedback had mainly been positive, but with some surprise around "the process".
"People ... [have been] very comfortable with the principle of the deal - putting the airport into a position where it's able to comfortably make dividend payments back to the community as a shareholder ... given, in doing that, the council is not giving up any control whatsoever over this company.
"Today, I have had a number of people, quite unsolicited, either comment positively about the transaction, or, if they've asked me a question and I've explained the benefits package, they've said: `It's all good'.
"Apart from the meeting with the businessmen [members of the Queenstown Community Strategic Assets Group] and what I've read ... I've not had one person say to me: 'This is a bad deal'."
The transaction gave "significant benefits" to everyone living in the Lakes District, by enabling a dividend to be invested into the community, providing things which could "enrich people's lives ... without them having to pay for it in rates".
"I just wish it had happened nine years ago when I became mayor.
"I would have loved to be part of a council and community that was able to get that funding ... without losing control of the asset that provided it ... making the Lakes District a better place to live.
"In the nine years I have been mayor, I have not ever signed off one annual plan without going home and feeling guilty about it.
"We have had to sit around a table considering submissions on the millions of dollars [required for major projects] and as part of that turn down small communities' requests for modest sums of money.
"I see this dividend [from the alliance] ... it's like a visitor tax.
"For years we have been asking: How do we get the visitors to support the community? - Here is the answer.
"This is as important to the Lakes District community as the Invercargill Licensing Trust is to Invercargill. That's the significance of it ... at the end of the day, this is a dividend back to the community that I believe should be used as a community development fund to support events, activities and facilities."
Mr Geddes, who is not seeking re-election, confirmed the decision about selling up to another 10% of airport shares to Auckland would not be dealt with until after the election.
"The time frame for the consultation and making the decision on the second option of shares can be comfortably undertaken between then and the deadline of June 30 [2011]."
It was "disappointing" the chamber had not circulated to its members information from the QAC board, which chairman Mark Taylor presented to the board on Monday - also representing Mr Geddes' opinion.
However, Mr Geddes circulated "notes" to "various members and organisations" in the community yesterday, outlining deal benefits.
"I want people to focus on the transaction - not the process, not how it was done, what is the end position, and what are the problems with that?
"I've looked at it 1000 times and I can't see any."
