Tauranga City Council's biggest vandalism repair bills were to bus shelters. Photo / File
Tauranga City Council's biggest vandalism repair bills were to bus shelters. Photo / File
Vandalism to council property and schools in the Bay costs an average of almost $600,000 per year.
Figures supplied to the Bay of Plenty Times show Tauranga City Council spends an average of $199,987 per year to repair vandalism and Western Bay District Council spends an average $189,500 per year.
The figures were not a complete picture of vandalism within the region, as different departments at each council record damage in different ways.
Western Bay District Council contractors repaired vandalism and graffiti as part of service contracts and costs were not recorded separately.
Tauranga City Council implemented a recording system in 2013, but this did not cover all areas of council services.
The Ministry of Education has granted Western Bay schools an average of $201,922 a year to repair vandalism at local schools.
Tauranga City Council's biggest vandalism repair bills were for bus shelters, which cost $60,395 in the last financial year, manger of issue resolution and governance Kirsty Downey said.
The council also spent a lot of money on removing graffiti on its transportation assets, spending $111,627 in the last three years.
This did not include damage to its signage as this was not separately recorded.
There was also a one-off cost to pay for the damage to pay and display parking machines on 1st Avenue in April which cost $48,225.
Vandalism to parks assets cost an average of $50,000 a year, Ms Downey said. Last year, the highest bills were for repairs to fences, playgrounds and structures, and graffiti removal.
Between $10,000 and $15,000 is spent each year to repair rubbish bins damaged by members of the public.
Tauranga City Council also spent $226,350 in the last five years for maintenance and repairs to public toilets.
The Ministry of Education allocated $1,009,611 to schools for vandalism repairs in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty from 2010 to June 2015.
Head of education infrastructure service Kim Shannon said this money was part of schools' operations grants and was calculated by assigning each school a risk rating based on historical vandalism costs multiplied by the number of students.
If a school needed extra funding above this vandalism grant, Ms Shannon said it could apply for a top-up grant.
In the last five years and the first six months of this year, schools in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty have requested $110,703 in extra funding for vandalism repairs.
Western Bay District Council's biggest vandalism costs are to its roading network, with about $117,000 a year spent on repairing damage to signs, marker posts, street furniture, bridges and infrastructure and cleaning litter.
Otumoetai Primary School principal Geoff Opie has had to request extra funding numerous times to cover vandalism damage at the school. Based on the roll and decile, Mr Opie said the school got $1848 per year, which was rarely enough to pay for vandalism damage, particularly if it involved broken windows. In 2010, the school was granted an extra $12,813 to pay for broken windows.
Brookfield School had an incident sparked by a person climbing on to a roof and snapping a pipe to a hot water cylinder.
The classroom block flooded and ruined carpet and resources.
Principal Robert Hyndman said the incident was "horrendous" and pupils from four classes had to move to the library for up to three weeks.
