Advice costs ratepayers

Christchurch City Council paid consultants almost half a million dollars for advice on asset sales.

Wellington firm Cameron Partners was engaged by the council in March last year to provide independent advice on the council’s capital release programme. The firm was paid $455,391 excluding GST, for the work, according to figures released to

The Press under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).

Green Party Christchurch spokeswoman Eugenie Sage called the fees ‘‘eye-watering’’.

The council decided in June last year to push ahead with its capital release programme aimed at raising up to $200m this financial year from the sale of council-owned commercial assets and up to another $550m in the next two years. In November it announced City Care would be the first to be sold.

Keep Our Assets Canterbury convenor Murray Horton said the fee paid to Cameron Partners was a waste of money.

When Cameron Partners was appointed last year, asset sale opponents criticised the move, saying it suggested the council had already made up its mind, given the work was to be commenced before the council had decided whether or not to sell assets. That suggestion was immediately dismissed by Mayor Lianne Dalziel.

Sage also questioned last year if Cameron Partners could be independent given they had provided the report in 2014 that led to the proposal for asset sales.

Documents released under the LGOIMA show the council asked Cameron Partners to provide advice on the type of assets and sale structures that investors might prefer. It was tasked with preparing a comprehensive report on the council’s capital release options.