Funding reprieve for AHB

The Animal Health Board has secured a funding reprieve – of sorts – after Waikato Regional Council agreed to continue collecting a council rate to fund the board’s work.

At yesterday’s council long-term plan deliberations, councillors voted to continue funding the Animal Health Board for the next two years pending a national funding review.

The council currently charges a targeted rate on rural properties to fund the regional contribution of the board’s national bovine tuberculosis (TB) control programme.

Councillors voted to collect a rate for the first two years of the long-term plan on behalf of the board and to reconsider future funding once a national funding review was complete and an implementation timetable agreed to. The council has previously signalled it wanted to stop collecting the rate from 2013-14 and instead focus on its own pest control operations. Councillor Russ Rimmington said he was ‘‘absolutely delighted’’ the council had done a U-turn and described the rate collection as core business.

In its submission to the council’s longterm plan, dairy giant Fonterra urged the council to continue its funding of the board, and said it supported a review of the board’s funding structure. In a letter to all regional councils, Primary Industries Minister David Carter said regional councils had a longstanding role in managing TB ‘‘through carrying out vector control for TB purposes, as well as a role in funding the [Bovine TB National Pest Management] Strategy.’’

Mr Carter said an independent TB strategy funding review was about to start and coordinated decisions were needed about regional funding.

‘‘Funding uncertainty is an ongoing issue with the strategy, with the potential to compromise operational delivery of the vector control programme.’’