Councils to bail out ailing rail trail trust
Ratepayers are set to fork out thousands to back a struggling charitable trust over-seeing the management of the renowned Hauraki Rail Trail.
Deemed one of the country’s “great rides”, the Hauraki Rail Trail has pumped millions into the Waikato economy, with the 160km-long leisure track attracting visitors to the region year on year.
But the council-funded Hauraki Rail Trail Charitable Trust, which oversees “asset management” of the attraction, has called on three Waikato councils to help bail them out of a funding hole.
Hauraki councillors approved the motion at a council meeting on Wednesday. This would see Hauraki District Council (HDC), Thames-Coromandel District Council (TCDC) and Matamata-Piako District Council (MPDC) each make a contribution of $27,000 to the operating of the trust.
Hauraki Rail Trail Charitable Trust chief executive Diane Drummond had called on councillors to back a motion to support funding of $81,000 to sustain the trust. “We’ve run on the smell of an oily rag ... we’ve had virtually nothing.”
The Hauraki Rail Trail Trust was established in 2012 when 87km of “redundant corridors” between Thames and Te Aroha and Paeroa to Waihi were transformed into the Hauraki Rail Trail.
Councillors discussed the funding issue while Drummond said the trust was focused on being as sustainable as possible.
The trust conducts asset management, including promotion of the trail, while acting as “the oil” between the three east Waikato councils involved in the trail’s management.
The trust was tipped to break even this financial year; however, if forecasts changed, it was at risk of another deficit.
While the trust received funding towards contractors conducting work along the trail, Drummond argued that it didn’t get “a single cent” in government funds towards projects or the operation of the trust.
The trust has “exceeded beyond anyone’s expectations”, she added, with the trail bringing in $18 million annually to the district. But it had been consistently “accumulating deficit” between 2019 and 2023 with the impact of the pandemic and “two summers that didn’t really happen” following the 2023 summer of storms.
While HDC and MPDC had opted to resolve the motion, TCDC was yet to formally pass the matter but were on board, Drummond said.