The Christchurch City Council is due to take on the insurance costs for Parakiore multisport facility in October and Te Kaha stadium from April 2026, as a more than a billion dollars in assets is shifted onto the council balance sheet.
All photos and one image sourced from the Phil 4 Mayor website.
The council refused to be drawn on the “budget estimates” for the insurance in the next 10 years for the assets.
“As a community we need to have a conversation about what are the must haves and then what we could change to save money. Our Draft Annual Plan comes out for consultation in February, and we need to hear from our ratepayers about what is important, after all it is their money we are spending.”
Mayor Phil Mauger
In February, Mayor Phil Mauger told attendees at a Mayoral Forum of his concerns regarding the asset transfer and the impact this would have on the council’s “insurance premium…(about) $40 million” and mooted the idea of selling off surplus land holdings.
Forty-four properties were listed in the council’s draft annual plan, which proposed a rates increase of 6.77 percent. The NZR cannot confirm whether the council has approved the plan and that proposal at Monday’s meeting.
Today Mauger cancelled the next mayoral forum. It had been scheduled for 3 July.
He has been in the headlines recently in connection with comments made by ACT leader and deputy Prime Minister, David Seymour.
“Kia Ora
Thank you to everyone who registered for the Residents’ Group Forum scheduled for 3 July.
Due to the proximity to the election period and associated demands, we’ve made the decision to postpone the Forum until after the election. …”
The council’s top-tier managers usually attend the forums.
In an interview with Chris Lynch, Seymour made a claim that implied staff had bullied Mauger into backing a submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill.
Mauger’s figure of $40 million or so for insurance was off by roughly $9 million. The Finance and Performance Committee gives a lower figure of $31 million for the 2024/2025 year.
He also foreshadowed a new water levy kicking in.
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