Napier Port selloff consultation budget blows out to $200,000

The cost of consulting over the future of sell Napier Port exceeded Hawke's Bay Regional Council's budget by $100,000. Photo / File

The cost of consulting Hawke's Bay people over the possible sale of Napier Port doubled, exceeding its budget by $100,000.

A paper being presented to Hawke's Bay Regional Council on Wednesday states the cost of consulting the public ballooned to $200,000, double the budgeted expense.

A spokesperson for Hawke's Bay Regional Council said the extra expense was due to the consultation being longer and broader than expected.

"We responded to community expectations for a higher level of consultation, and this was reflected in additional advertising costs, an extra postcard, postage, design charges and professional advice to ensure we met legal requirements."

The paper being presented to council states the reason for the cost doubling is due to unbudgeted expenses around "procuring out of scope legal and other professional advice in addition to the planned costs for auditing of the LTP amendment communications advice, postage and delivery."

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It states the scope was larger than initially thought, and the extra $100,000 included an independent review, audit and additional communication.

Council received around 3500 submissions on the issue, despite residents not receiving consultation documents in the original mail out, leading to consultation being extended by a week.

There were also three days of hearings for those who wanted to speak on their submissions.

An 'in principal' decision to sell up to 49 per cent of the port was made at a meeting in December, with Councillors Debbie Hewitt and Paul Bailey voting against the decision.

The initial offering will be between 33 per cent and 45 per cent.

The port expenditure is just one of the items looked at in the paper, which looks at the forecasts of HBRC's expenditure for the financial year ending June 30, 2019, based on the nine months to March 31.

Overall, there is no expected change to the financial forecast, with unfavorable variances, such as the port consultation, being offset by favourable variances.