TELL US THE FULL COST OF THE INDOOR STADIUM / Writes Keith Flinders

Bryan,

For your blog.

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Why isn't the WCC telling us the rate payers the full costs of this indoor stadium, and trying to hide the truth.

The total cost will be upwards of $65 million, not the $46 million leaked to the press. This from a WCC councillor at the weekend. The cost of road works, land, and other costs apart from basic construction have not been included in the news reports for reasons which one might conclude to be deception.

The running costs will be $6 million per annum, not the $1.9 million Karen Wallace of the WCC told the the press 7 Feb. 2009. If the office of the CEO is unable to do basic sums and be out by a factor of 200 percent, should the ratepayers not be demanding changes there ? What else have they got wrong ?

Get rid of Poole, Wallace, plus one other and the shortfall in recycling costs will be covered.

The costs associated with this stadium project mean that every rateable household will be effectively paying $1,000 for this stadium, or subsidising every adult netball player who uses the new stadium about $1,000 per annum. Netball and other users are paying nothing towards the cost of the stadium nor for the use of it. Ratepayers on fixed incomes who can't afford to heat their homes to a healthy level, or purchase correct nourishment, will be levied on average another $150 per annum for a complex that only a fraction of the population will use.

One can cut back on power usage or food, but frustratingly one can't withhold rates.

Do WCC councillors not appreciate that we are in a recession, but regardless this is now a user pays society. No one subsidises my hobbies, and I don't expect anyone to. The same should be the case with all sport.

In the meantime the Events Centre, erected at a massive cost to the city, remains grossly under utilised. Various existing halls that can be used for indoor sports are also under utilised. Additional indoor courts could be housed in the old Winter Show building, or for a fraction of the price, in empty warehouses leased on very favourable terms. What is wrong with existing outdoor courts available for use 90% of the time even in winter.

Have councillors not looked at alternate options ? Obviously not.

A male city councillor, not Bryan, who phoned me at the weekend said HE THINKS that the contract for the construction has been let. He and the other councillors should know, not think. Perhaps I missed it but I have not seen the project advertised in the Tenders columns. How can a tender for $46 million be let without councillors having signed it off. Direct negotiation with a favoured contractor, if this is the case, gives rise for the thought that the process is open to bribery and corruption.

I wrote to every councillor and the mayor last week calling for the resignation of all who support this unaffordable stadium. I have asked for the Minister of Local Government to sack the entire council if the stadium goes ahead. The stadium is not core business.

Keith Flinders, Karori.