$40,000 blowout on domain track cost

At least another $40,000 needs to be raised to cover unforeseen costs associated with the construction of a new all-weather athletics track at Tauranga Domain.
The Millennium Trust has already raised $1.5 million but costs associated with resource consent and recent archaeological work have blown the budget.
Trust secretary Murray Clarkson said the six trustees were initially advised resource consent was not required for construction of the Mondo Super Flex vulcanised natural rubber track on the council-owned site. However, just over a month before work began they learnt it was needed.
Tauranga planning consultants Harrison Grierson prepared the resource consent application at a discounted rate of $3000 while the archeological assessment and supervision of digging at the site cost the Trust $5300.
Despite the fact Tauranga City Council will take over ownership of the track upon completion, they charged the trust $1250 in consent fees.
Once archeological work began a fee of $9000 was charged for two iwi representatives to monitor digging at the site while four full days of archeological work amounted to about $20,000.
The Millennium Trust is also required to pay for truckloads of loose metal used to fill holes left by excavation work on the base of the track, at a cost not yet known to trustees.
Mr Clarkson said he was concerned about where the trust would find the extra funding.
"If worse comes to the worst the council are going to have to take over the job and pay the money," he said.
But Kiri Pope, Tauranga City Council manager of recreation relationships, told the Bay of Plenty Times this morning there were no plans for council to contribute anything further than the $330,000 already marked for the project.
She had been in discussions with trustee Garth Mathieson over the past week and there was a mutual understanding that the Millennium Trust would seek the extra money from elsewhere.
"We have a limited budget that we have elected to contribute to the track project. We are contributing $330,000 and that has already been counted in the budget.
"We certainly haven't had a conversation with them about if they may need council to step in," she said.
Mr Clarkson said grants from major charity trusts, including pub charities, were not an option because they did not give retrospective funding.
He said there may be some private trusts they could apply to for funding and letters requesting donations would be sent to the commercial sector in Tauranga.
Mr Clarkson said the Trust had organised a total of 63 raffles at past and up-coming athletics meets to help raise funds.
In order to cover the extra costs and have a small buffer for any further unexpected costs the trust now needed another $40,000.
If you would like to make a donation to The Millennium Trust contact Garth Mathieson on 575 8166 or Murray Clarkson on (027) 2751655.
with Lauren Owens