Keep or cut? Councillors put forward dozens of changes to budget plans

Thursday, 9 November 2023

Wellington City councillors have voted to cut $170 million from the budget for Civic Square upgrades.

Today the council is making decisions of which projects are in and out of its plan for the next ten years.

The biggest change was to investigate demolition of the City to Sea Bridge, former Capital E building and Civic Square basement instead of renovating them, to save $170m.

Mayor Tory Whanau and chairperson Rebecca Matthews will put forward an amendment to investigate that option, along with changes to save Huetepara Park in Lyall Bay, Grenada North Park in Tawa and reinstating funding for playgrounds.

The meeting remains focused on various amendments with councillors going into bat for their favourite projects.

Suburban town centre upgrades have been saved, along with some extra off-leash dog parks and inflation-related budget increases for council controlled organisations.

Diane Calvert championed budget increases for three projects in her ward - the $11m Khandallah Pool upgrade, along with other million-dollar budget lines for Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush and the Karori Events Centre.

“I do seem to recall that you talked about a financial crisis, I am perplexed about why you support this in a crisis. It’s a lot of money,” said Iona Pannett in response. The final vote on these amendments will be later this afternoon.

The $170m saving in Civic Square has not yet been voted through. Next up is a series of possible budget cuts put forward by councillor Tony Randle, which the council will take an adjournment to iron out.

These include stopping the “Our Wellington” flyer and making the Berhampore Golf Course a public park as part of the town belt.

Matthews described the series of changes as “the world’s least popular festival, Amendment-Palooza”.

Community groups concerned at the proposed cuts that the council is considering have told councillors what they think should be saved.

The meeting about the city’s Long Term Plan kicked off with councillor Tamatha Paul’s valedictory speech, as she resigns to become the MP for Wellington Central. It was followed by a series of submissions from community groups.

“As we tell our children, it is important to keep promises,” said Rachel Allan from the Tawa Community Board, who was advocating for the council to continue with an upgrade to sports fields at Grenada North Park.

The council sent out flyers earlier in the year saying that planning and design on the park upgrade was going to start soon; now the project was going to be scrapped.

Michael Chapman, from the Tawa Junior Football Club, said there were players breaking their ankles because of the muddy sports fields. “We can’t commit to the growth the community wants,” he said.

It was a travesty to stop the fit-out of the Karori Event Centre, said Heather Baldwin, a representative of the trust which had raised community funds to get the centre mostly completed.

The Trustees of Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush were appalled at plans not to upgrade the park, which was a nationally significant garden including some of New Zealand’s rarest native plants, said Kathy Ombler.

After the size of the council’s capital spending programme blew out because of financial conditions and escalating project budgets like the Town Hall, councillors have had to rethink which projects are needed over the next 10 years and cut the spend on projects by $100m a year.

The resulting cuts range far and wide across the city, covering everything from pools in Khandallah to public toilets in Newtown.

Earlier in the week, Friends of the Botanic Garden said postponing the upgrade of Begonia House would be disastrous, while residents’ association president Lawrence Collingbourne said he couldn’t fathom why the council would nix the upgrade of the Khandallah Pool.

Deputy mayor Laurie Foon, who represents the Paekawakawa/Southern ward, said people had been asking for public toilets at Carrara Park for years and it was fair that they should get new facilities.

The upgrade of Newtown’s town centre was also much-needed, as the existing town was run-down, Foon said.

Takapū/Northern ward councillor Ben McNulty would be advocating to keep the upgrade of the Grenada North Park, where football fields often flood in winter.

He was also concerned at the $173m allocated towards strengthening the City to Sea Bridge and former Capital E building in Civic Square.

“Tear it out. I’ve got some good memories there but we can’t keep a nice bridge at this point,” he said.

What has the council voted to save?

The budget will provide $3m to upgrade the Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush plant nursery, $1.7m for Huetepara Park in Lyall Bay, an upgrade of Grenada North Park, and $1m for new playgrounds. All of these projects were getting the axe in the original proposal. The Karori Event Centre fit-out will be paused, but the council will not investigate selling the building.

What has the council voted to cut?

The council voted to cut $170m from the budget for Civic Square and the City to Sea Bridge, and to investigate whether the bridge, basement and former Capital E building could be demolished. It also cut $25m allocated for transitioning the city’s swimming pool heaters from gas to electricity.