Cr Bill Faulkner Faulkners Corner www.sunlive.co.nz

At a Tauranga City Council workshop, elected members discussed a long overdue review of seed funding to attract events to our city.

No decisions are made at workshops and the informal format allows wide ranging discussion – which there was.
Some cities are pouring big bucks into buying events that attract large crowds, to stimulate their local economy.
Auckland has a $10 million budget, Wellington $3.4 million, Christchurch $2.1 million, Dunedin $1.1 million and Tauranga $200,000.
New Plymouth recently paid $750,000 to attract an All Black game, we were told. In Hawkes Bay, the regional council provides funding and we were told we should look on events funding as an investment – not as a hand up or a hand out.
TCC CEO Garry Poole said cities are in a war/competition to attract events and it is a completely different world from 2007.
Tauranga's event funding amount and policy stems from the year 2000, so elected members are aware the policy is overdue for review. But what to do? On one hand it's true that we can't compete with the current arrangement.

On another hand
But on another hand many ratepayers are struggling to pay existing rates. But businesses also pay rates, and it's a function of Local Government to stimulate local economies. The popular line here is everyone benefits in a trickle up/down/around effect of new dollars coming into the city.
Sport BOP CEO Wayne Werder made a sensible presentation on how he saw council's position.
Council had to decide whether events funding is a priority. If so, a delegated and speedy decision process is needed. There is risk that not every event will succeed and council has to accept that. Political input into events via council should be removed and its role should be one of leadership. So the message we got from all presenters was be in events, provide leadership – accept the risks and get on with it.
The other side is where do increased dollars come from? A group of local businessmen are offering to set up some form of arm's length structure to seed-fund events that can return a surplus. Council could be part of this if it chooses. But it will not address the ‘feel good' social benefit-type of event that will never pay for itself.
Other elected members said it is not always about economics.
Staff will return a report, summarising all options for council discussion/decision. Lengthy deliberations on the Freedom Camping Policy resulted in what most of us hope is a workable compromise to maintain order around the city.
This not well thought-out piece of legislation was created by Central Government for the Rugby World Cup.
Basically, it says you can 'freedom camp” anywhere you like unless the local authority has reasons why you shouldn't; and those reasons are limited to issues like health, safety and access.
As noted previously, it's full of fishhooks such as you can park where you like provided it's all legal – you just can't sleep overnight in areas restricted by council bylaw.
After lengthy debate and discussion it was decided Marine Parade at the Mount will have a ban on overnighting east of Banks Ave from December 1 to February 8. A ban already exists on the rest of Marine Parade. F
ergusson Park will have its number of permitted mobile homes reduced to three; and Sulphur Point's boat ramp will have its allowance increase to 10 during winter months. But overnighters will have hours limited from 8pm to 6am from December 1 to February 8 to accommodate peak boat trailer parking – the amenity's real purpose.
From my view, the outcome, which is very detailed, is reasonable but will not please everyone.
Monitoring and enforcement will be key to its success or otherwise.
And once again, the poor old ratepayer will pick up the bill for signs and staff.
But infringement fees might offset some of this cost.

Interloping governments
On the subject of Central Government interloping on Local Government we've been alerted to a pending change in how local councils will be able to fund growth. Currently, ratepayers pay for their existing infrastructure via rates; and new building contributes to the cost of their addition and demands on city infrastructure via development contributions. These add to costs of new buildings – a politically sensitive issue.
I'm not fully aware of the detail, but from what I've been able to glean it's not good news for ratepayers. Put simply it's much easier to spread the financial load over 53,000 ratepayers than a few hundred new buildings each year. And the Government can cane local councils over 'unreasonable rates increases”. A
lot of these increased costs are result of the Resource Management Act – imposed by Government. Other costs, such as a new requirement to scaffold all new buildings which adds about $4,000 up, simply fly under the radar.
In Tauranga last year, council transferred $30 million of infrastructure loans to the rates bill simply because it wasn't collecting enough development contributions. Reading ministerial statements, the law change coming later this year will require strong tummy muscles from elected members to manage expected fall-out with ratepayers.
I had an interesting visit to our airport's Control Tower, as Chair of the Airport Committee. Like turning on a tap or flicking a light switch, we accept it just happens.
Managing 400-500 aircraft movements on a busy day without a hitch takes organisation.
It's a well-oiled machine and was reassuring to witness the technology coupled with the controllers using binoculars to sight approaching aircraft.
Thanks to James, Anton and Roger for their time
and attention.

This week's mindbender from Sir Isaac Newton – 'Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy”.