Library a $6.1m burden on ratepayers
Judging by the tenor of a Hamilton City Council briefing recently, ratepayers are in for a painful day of reckoning.
Council faces severe financial pressure mainly due to Hamilton’s growing population.
Council has been spending money intended to fund growth and the replacement of existing assets to pay day-to-day running costs and the briefing asked how could council extract more money from ratepayers to overcome this shortfall.
The briefing discussed new revenue options including general rate increases, accelerating the transition from land to capital value rating, a community infrastructure rate, a transport rate and geographical rates, eg. a targeted ‘‘Rototuna rate’’.
There was no suggestion that council might cut expenses, an option I regularly suggest which is just as regularly rejected by most of my council colleagues.
This briefing followed a finance committee meeting at which councillors were advised, that the June 30, 2017 year-end result had swung from a surplus of $12 million to a deficit of $12.5m – a turnaround of $24.5m!
Which brings me to the Central Library in Garden Place.
Since November 2016 the Central Library has been closed due to earthquake risk.
For the year-ended June 30, 2017, the Central Library was budgeted to cost ratepayers around $6.1m – that’s nearly 4 per cent of council’s total rate take. The $6.1m doesn’t include any earthquake strengthening costs.
Council voted to spend a further $722,000 to bring the Central Library to 34 per cent of the earthquake standard and to increase security and operating expenses.
These costs are additional to the annual $6.1m cost to ratepayers.
I suggest that ratepayers are getting poorer and poorer value for the more than $6.1m per year they pay for the Central Library.
Technology is rapidly surpassing the traditional bricks and mortar library.
Nearly everyone has access to the internet providing much greater access to literature, knowledge, music, theatre, movies, entertainment, digital media, lectures, comedy, information, science, history, culture and news.
It’s all available, all the time, anywhere. You’re not restricted to library opening hours or forced to travel into the CBD to struggle with parking. You can access the internet from home, work, school or university, the beach, an aeroplane, the cafe.
Ratepayers wouldn’t be on the hook for $6.1m (and growing) every year. The cost savings are many, many millions and ongoing.
The Central Library is on prime CBD real estate. The property could be sold which would reduce council costs by more than $6.1m per year and generate sale proceeds to reduce debt and rates.
The purchaser would likely develop a hotel, retail, residential, hospitality or commercial facility bringing activity and jobs to the CBD.
To me it seems those supporting the retention of the Central Library overlook the huge advances from new and proven technology.
They also ignore the enormous costs which could be avoided by changing from the bricks and mortar delivery to digita delivery. Given this is ‘‘the peoples’ money’’ I’m obliged to consider the massive savings and superior service levels available from the digital option.
I respect the views of supporters of the Central Library but, as a representative of Hamilton residents and ratepayers, I find the analysis I’ve laid out above very difficult to overlook.
-Garry Mallett is a Hamilton city councillor.