Referendum mooted for $55.7m Tauranga museum plan - council to decide Tuesday

TodayTauranga's council will decide whether or not to piggy-back a $45,000 museum referendum on to the April by-election.

Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout proposed a referendum to ask voters if they supported the museum plan.

He said it gives the community a say on a controversial issue and help the council make a confident decision but detractors say this is just another way for the council to delay getting on with it.

Clout said he could see benefits for the city from a museum, but there were also downsides - costs in particular.

"The museum issue has been a contentious one in Tauranga for at least two decades, but there has never been a city-wide plebiscite."

There was a lot of support for the museum but also a lot of opposition.

"It will be a brave council that gets the museum over the line."

He was not sure last year's phone survey of 400 residents - 61 per cent supported the museum, 41 per cent were prepared to pay - was representative of the broader population.

The council had legal advice that the referendum could not be binding, he said.

Clout argued the referendum would also encourage debate and increase voter turnout for the byelection, which will be held to fill the at-large seat left vacant by councillor Gail McIntosh's death in January.

Councillor Larry Baldock, who has championed the museum, said the council had already done a lot of intensive consultation on the issue and had more planned that would overlap with the referendum.

"I think it's just too complicated a decision to go to a referendum and if it can't be binding then what's the point?"

"Great harm" was done to the council's relationship with the community in 1998 when the council went against referendum results and introduced universal water metering, although Baldock said time had shown it was the right decision.

The Tauranga Moana Museum Trust has also spoken out against the referendum idea, saying now was the time for action.

"We see this as the council once again deferring actually making a decision to commit to a museum and get on with it."

The referendum timing could delay funding commitments and cause confusion.

Council electoral officer Warwick Lampp estimated the referendum would cost $45,000.

Museum proposal: what's on the table

- $55.7m museum at Cliff Rd
- Ratepayers pay $20.7m, rest from external funders
- Opening in 2025
- $4.7m a year to operate
- Approved for consultation with the Long-Term Plan 2018-28 in December
- Formal consultation with community to begin soon
- Final council funding decision due mid-year.