Funds review puts chopper 'at risk'

The operators of Northland's rescue helicopters are concerned proposed funding changes by the Northland Regional Council could impact on the service.

A decision to review funding for the region's air ambulance by Northland Regional Council may put the service at risk, says the Northland Emergency Services Trust.

However, other emergency service providers, eligible for a slice of a proposed new fund, are supportive of the changes.

Northland Regional Council provide the rescue helicopter with $600,000 in annual funding through a targeted rate of approximately $8 for every Northland household.

The council are proposing this be amended to a new $800,000 fund that was open to all emergency services for application on a contestable basis.

That would mean the targeted rate and its intended funding would no longer be guaranteed to Northland Emergency Services Trust that operated the air ambulance.

The fund would include Surf Lifesaving and Coastguard, but not St John and Fire Service as they are funded through central government.

NEST opposes this proposal, says trust chair Paul Ahlers.

"We will effectively be competing with other organisations for a slice of the pie and we are concerned that this will lead to an inevitable reduction in funding for NEST," Mr Ahlers said. "Any future funding of NEST would be at the sole discretion of council and not ratepayers."

The new proposal would introduce an element of uncertainty that would make planning for current workload and future growth in demand for services a lot more difficult, Mr Ahlers said.

The NRC contribution covers about half of NEST's annual shortfall in government funding with the balance coming from donations and sponsorship.

Surf Lifesaving Northern region portfolio manager Matt Williams said the service supported the changes.

"We believe it's a necessity that other emergency services are included in the fund," Mr Williams said. If the fund goes ahead they planned to ask for $275,000 from the pool to go towards the regional lifeguard service, operational costs of the five clubs and administration expenses.

It had asked for funding from NRC for eight years before it received a one-off $20,000 grant last year, he said.

Last year it also received $72,500 from the district councils, though that did not come close to covering the costs of operating in Northland, Mr Williams said.

If it received funding from from NRC it not would receive money from the district councils.

Coastguard northern spokeswoman Georgie Smith said they were happy about the changes as they would help provide consistency in funding. Coastguard receive no funding from NRC.