Stalled projects provoke angst
Councillors sick of ‘‘rubbish’’ excuses would rather city council debt levels went up and capital projects it had approved were actually carried out in Palmerston North.
Debt has dropped to the levels of a decade ago, with the council ending the financial year $93.6 million in debt, $2m lower than the previous year, and $20m down on forecasts.
Cr Lew Findlay told the finance and performance committee yesterday it was a relief to see borrowing under control, and that the lower debt put the council in a strong position for the future.
But others were frustrated with the reason for the lower levels of borrowing – because of the number of capital projects that were not being completed on time.
Cr Leonie Hapeta said she was sick of receiving regular reports explaining delays that were ‘‘a load of rubbish’’.
On her list of disappointments was the Cuba St makeover, which was to have been done in March, but was delayed until November, works in Broadway, which were not happening, and the James Line upgrade, which could not proceed until resource consent was granted.
‘‘We’ve been hearing the same excuses every six months. I’m frustrated we keep getting this rubbish thrown back at us.’’
In the past financial year, the council completed $33.1m capital spending out of a budget of $52.9m.
The previous year it spent $30.9m.
Among projects not completed that have been carried forward into this year are the Papaioea social housing project, Library of the Future remodelling of the central library, Central Energy Trust Wildbase Recovery aviaries, the junior road safety park, street lighting upgrades and the Kelvin Grove water bore.
The value of projects carried forward was nearly $16m.
Committee chairman Susan Baty said this was the fourth year the council had been running significantly behind schedule with its projects.
‘‘We are 50 per cent behind and it is costing us as a city. Programmes are coming back because they need increased budgets because of the delays.’’
She said she could not see anything that would give her any confidence the council would do better in the coming year.
The goal for this year was to carry out $65.7m worth of work, almost twice what was achieved last year.
‘‘We are not going to get through that. There is no way we will be in a position to deliver,’’ Baty said.
Some projects were delayed for reasons outside the council’s control, such as waiting for money to be raised by third parties in jointly-funded projects.
Managers proposed those should not be included in reports that suggested the council was lagging behind. But Baty said that was ‘‘a joke’’. ‘‘The majority of capital projects that are not delivered have nothing to do with third parties.
‘‘It’s not going to make it look any better,’’ she said.
Cr Karen Naylor said if the council wanted people’s confidence, it needed to be more realistic with its promises about what could be achieved.
Acting chief executive David Wright said he shared the councillors’ concerns, and had introduced more regular and effective monitoring to raise alerts if programmes were losing momentum.