Tauranga City Council has dropped its demand for a $150,000 maintenance bond before the Hairy Maclary sculptures can be installed on the downtown waterfront.
A special meeting of the council today also agreed to contribute up to $50,000 towards the installation of the statues of Hairy Maclary and his storybook pals.
The money will come from existing budgets including the estimated $50,000 saving in the Pilot Bay boardwalk project. Councillors were told that the bronze waterfront statues in Wellington cost virtually nothing to maintain.
The 6-5 vote was a big helping hand for the project and reverses the undertaking that Creative Tauranga gave the council last year that it would provide a $150,000 bond to cover maintenance costs for the next 50 years.
And the $50,000 contribution plus potential in-kind assistance from the council's city partners could end up covering the total installation costs that were originally budgeted at $100,00.