Historic house balancing act
More money for staff is needed to keep Palmerston North’s Caccia Birch House available for the community to enjoy its heritage.
Its trust board wants to spend about an extra $30,000 a year to provide back-up for its sole manager, Nicky Birch.
But it is reluctant to take on more commercial bookings that would restrict public access to the house and gardens, on the bank of the Hokowhitu Lagoon, to balance the budget.
The city council has rejected the trust board’s financial plans for the next three years, which would see it go broke.
Council chief financial officer Grant Elliott said the board was planning deficits of more than $40,000 a year and by the third year, it would run out of cash.
Trust board chairman Grant O’donnell said if the council increased its grant to Caccia Birch by $30,000 a year, the solvency problem would be sorted.
It already receives $92,000 of its annual income of $303,000 from ratepayers.
O’donnell said the trust was juggling many balls to deliver all the benefits the council wanted.
The critical tension was between maintaining the heritage aspects of the property while also developing the range and extent of activities held in the house and on the grounds.
It was needing to do more to contribute to the city council’s latest strategies and goals, and some of that was at odds with what it needed to do to cater for income-earning bookings.
‘‘Increased commercialisation risks detracting from the inherent heritage values,’’ O’donnell said. Good human resources management and succession planning meant a second management position should be created.
Birch said taking on more commercial bookings to help pay for that would reduce community access to the property.
Mayor Grant Smith said he was impressed the board had clearly explained its first priority was the preservation of a heritage property, and how it needed to move carefully in promoting the commercial side of the business.
‘‘I think we can get them back on the path to be cost-neutral or have a small surplus.’’
Meantime, the council’s finance and performance committee has asked staff to go back to the trust board to sort the finances.
No additional money has been included in the council’s draft annual budget, which is open for public submissions until Wednesday.