Going into the weeds of the council’s 10-year budget

Saturday, 15 June 2024

Christchurch City Council proposes to spend $1 million for a new staff building in Hagley Park, $918,000 on repairs to the Linwood canal, $590,000 on camping grounds equipment, $300,000 on tree renewals in Hagley Park and $350,000 on rockfall remediation near Lyttelton. It goes on.

The council’s draft 10-year budget for 2024-34 - known as the long term plan (LTP) - details $16.8 billion worth of spending, about $4.9b to be spent in the next three years alone.

The spending is not necessarily wasteful, which can be a subjective judgement or require expert knowledge.

For example, budget officials propose spending $590,000 over two years on camping grounds equipment renewals and replacements. Is this necessary or good value for ratepayers?

How about $2.7m over 10 years for furniture and equipment renewals and replacements in our libraries?

That averages about $275,000 a year, but the cost increases most years and tops out a $306,000 in 2034.

The big ticket items and controversial spending - delays to some cycleways, for instance - have been debated in public for years.

But there are so many more lesser-known projects deep in the weeds of the proposed LTP.

Staff facility in Hagley Park

This $1m building will replace an ageing caretaker house no longer fit for purpose, said acting head of parks Roslyn Kerr. The new build will provide “basic” facilities for park maintenance staff, not including the Botanic Gardens. It will also be used for game day management at Hagley Oval.

The 92m² building will be sited among the cluster of buildings near the oval. The ground floor will include amenities and storage, while the upper level will have a common area and oversight of parts of the park.

Construction is due to start about now and finish in February. The old building will be demolished and the site planted.

Linwood canal repairs

The Linwood canal is one of the more polluted waterways in the city and was damaged in the earthquakes. It will get $918,000 in bank repairs and erosion control over the next two years.

Simultaneously, the council will explore ways to enhance biodiversity and protect the waterway, said acting head of three waters Gavin Hutchison. This work is in a preliminary phase.

Sumner Road rock fall risk mitigation

There are low priority works needed on the hills above Sumner Rd in Lyttelton, starting from about the Timeball Station and extending about 1km up the road towards Sumner.

This work hadn’t been done when the huge project to reopen the Sumner Rd was finished in 2019 because it wasn’t directly affected by earthquake rockfall, said transport planning and delivery manager Jacob Bradbury.

The council budgeted to spend close to $350,000 on the works this year, but delays meant most of it was rolled over into the next financial year, starting July 1.

Hagley Park tree renewals

The council’s user-friendly web pages for it’s current budget lists more than $525,000 over five years for the planting and renewal of “tree assets” in Hagley Park.

The draft long-term plan, however, reduces that to less than $300,000 over the next three years and no spending on Hagley tree renewals for the following seven years.

Town Hall rebuild

Despite the council spending $167m repairing the Town Hall after the quakes, there was a current budget item for another $560,000 to bring it to 100% of the new building standard.

Turns out, this will not be an expense. In fact, it’s the financial surplus left over from the Town Hall rebuild that was still on the books, according to a council spokesperson. The building got $23,000 worth of minor maintenance this financial year and $520,000 will likely be returned to the council’s capital budget soon.