40% trim for council year spend

THE Queenstown Lakes District Council will be asked to approve a 40% reduction in budgeted spending in the current financial year.

In a report for this Thursday’s full council meeting, property and infrastructure manager Pete Hansby recommended the $294.4 million budget in the 202021 annual plan be reduced by $117.2 million to $177.2 million.

Mr Hansby said the original $186 million budget for the financial year was increased to $294 million as a result of $68 million in deferred spending from the year before, $37 million in Government funding for the first stage of an arterial bypass of Queenstown’s town centre and street upgrades, and another $1 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for community facility upgrades.

Budgeted spending on transport projects had been revised downwards by $30.5 million, of which $13 million related to the arterials and upgrades projects, and $5.4 million to the resort’s town centre public transport hub.

Infrastructure projects had a revised recommended budget of $44.8 million, a net reduction of $36.1 million from the 202021 adjusted annual plan.

There was a $47.3 million drop in the budget for other capital projects, the majority as a result of ‘‘timing variances’’, while design changes in the council’s Lakeview redevelopment had ‘‘slowed the speed of the programme’’ and resulted in the deferral of $11.2 million to the future longterm plan.

Noting it was the first revision of forecasted capital spending this financial year, Mr Hansby said the overall reduction in the budget could be attributed to the impacts of Covid19, dependency on other parties including the NZ Transport Agency, unforeseen delays or changes of project scope during planning and design, and the recent advancement of ‘‘shovelready initiatives’’.