Mayors differ over stadium funding
CHRISTCHURCH: A proposal that would require all Canterbury ratepayers to pick up the tab for Christchurch’s proposed new stadium has met opposition from many of the region’s mayors
Last week, Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods said a regional rate, raised through the regional council, could be used to help fund the project.
The new stadium could cost up to $500 billion, but the Christchurch City Council has budgeted only $253 million for it.
Several Canterbury mayors said their ratepayers were already having to stump up the cash for earthquake recovery, roading, water and stormwater infrastructure.
A new Christchurch stadium was a long way down the priority list, they said.
Hurunui Mayor Winton Dalley said the added cost might just be too much.
‘‘We’ve got several million dollars’ worth of debt created by the earthquake in the Hurunui district,’’ he said.
‘‘We need to take care of our own infrastructure first; a lot of that is sports facilities, local halls.
‘‘To be then asked for another rate for regional infrastructure from my local ratepayers is pretty difficult to accept.’’
Ashburton Mayor Donna Favel was worried about how much her district’s ratepayers were having to spend on roads and expanding their own sports facilities.
‘‘Ashburton District Council has the fourthlargest roading network in New Zealand — we have 2500km of roads to maintain.’’
Waimate district was in a similar situation, where ratepayers were potentially having to bear a proposed average 6.6% rates increase to help fix roads and water infrastructure.
Mayor Craig Rowley said he would not support the regional rate for a new Christchurch stadium.
However, not all regional mayors were opposed.
Kaikoura is Canterbury’s smallest district by population but Mayor Winston Gray said he was open to the idea of contributing to a new Christchurch stadium.
The Easter weekend Ed Sheeran concerts in Dunedin proved that many districts could benefit from events a large stadium could host, he said.
‘‘Timaru, Waimate, Oamaru benefited from [the concerts],’’ he said.
‘‘We all benefit to a degree; we sell fuel, we sell food — we are all in it together.’’
In a written statement, Dr Woods said the regional rate idea came from Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton.
Mr Broughton did not respond to calls yesterday.