Council writes off Fenz loan
THE Waitaki District Council has burned a $285,145 loan to Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) off its books.
As it did so, Waitaki Deputy Mayor Melanie Tavendale roasted Cr Jim Hopkins.
In April, the council’s finance, audit and risk committee agreed the Otago Rural Fire Establishment loan was never going to be repaid and should be forgiven. Only Cr Hopkins objected.
Cr Tavendale objected to Cr Hopkins’ continued line of argument at yesterday’s council meeting.
‘‘There is no chance of getting this money back . . . and you are, in essence, wasting time, Cr Hopkins,’’ she said.
‘‘There is no point chasing money on paper when we’re never going to get it back.’’
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said the loan was established in case the Otago Rural Fire Authority folded and each of Otago’s five councils would have the proportion of their contribution to the regional authority recognised.
He said as the loan amounts were valuations of equipment given to the fire authority, it could be considered ‘‘fraud’’ if the council were to try to chase money it said it was owed.
‘‘The valuation is based on it [the equipment] being in a certain condition . . . a lot of it wasn’t,’’ Mr Kircher said. On Monday, the Otago Daily
Times reported the paper loan of $267,000 owed to Queenstown Lakes District Council was also unlikely to be repaid.
Fenz chief executive Rhys Jones has said it was the organisation’s understanding that all Otago fire authority loans would be written off by the region’s councils.
It was reported in January Fenz owed $1,162,591 to Otago’s five councils — Waitaki, Clutha, Central Otago and QueenstownLakes districts and the Dunedin City Council.