Stadium thrown a lifeline

The Invercargill City Council has given a lifeline to Stadium Southland by agreeing to increase its funding by $300,000 for the next year, Stadium trust president Alan Dennis says.

‘‘My reaction is extremely positive. I know it was a difficult decision to make because they had lots of demands on them.’’

The trust had asked the council for an additional $300,000 funding each year, but council staff had recommended the stadium get no extra funding at all.

However, councillors compromised, and agreed to allocate the one-off grant in 2018-19 and work with the trust to find other ways of funding the shortfall in the future.

Dennis said he was pleased to get the $300,000 with conditions.

The council would have representatives on the stadium trust board and the stadium management board, which he believed was positive.

The stadium people would be kept on their toes and the council representatives would better understand the stadium’s challenges.

The councillors, when making their decision on Tuesday, had understood the importance of the stadium to Southlanders, he said.

‘‘It’s a really good lifeline. I am pleased the alternative doesn’t have to be faced.’’

That alternative may have included reduced hours at the stadium and gold coin entry fees for spectators, he said.

The trust and the council would work together to find cost savings and other income opportunities for the stadium, but Dennis indicated if revenue could not be increased then the original request of an additional $300,000 year-on-year may be revisited.

During Tuesday’s meeting, councillors discussed the issue at length.

Cr Ian Pottinger said the money asked for was for maintenance and it was responsible to keep the stadium in pristine condition.

Cr Toni Biddle said the council needed to support the stadium because the impact of not doing so could result in ‘‘another Rugby Park where we end up footing the bill’’.

Cr Lesley Soper said the council could not justify the extra $300,000 on the stadium when it looked at its other priorities.

Cr Karen Arnold said messages were coming out that the stadium was reluctant to charge users and if that culture continued the council would be asked to throw money at it year after year.

Deputy mayor Rebecca Amundsen suggested the council grant the one-off $300,000 payment and work with the stadium trust to increase its revenue stream.

The Southland community currently subsidises the stadium by more than $1m a year. Of that, the Invercargill Licensing Trust and city council stump up $400,000 each, the Community Trust of Southland says it contributes $160,000 and the Southland District Council pays $75,000.

‘‘I am pleased the alternative doesn’t have to be faced.’’

Alan Dennis, stadium trust president