Duncan McPhail, Pakowhai horticulturalist had 4.5m flood water that devastated his orchard during Cyclone Gabrielle. He has a solution to stop it happening again. Video/Warren Buckland.
Millions of dollars intended to support Hawke’s Bay businesses impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle will be returned to the Government unless it decides otherwise.
Last month, the Herald revealed Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) information that showed $21.5m of the $30.4m provided to the Hawke’s Bay Chamberof Commerce for distribution has been given to businesses, leaving about $8.8m.
At the time, the figures had not been finalised but with applications having been closed for weeks, any leftover funding would be returned to the Government.
In an interview with the Herald, Chamber chief executive Karla Lee said while still not confirmed, it was expected between $7-8m wouldn’t be spent and be returned.
She also claimed the Chamber had to restrain the funding it gave to impacted businesses soon after the cyclone hit because it wasn’t clear that more money was coming from the Government.
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Karla Lee is confident the right processes were followed in distributing the funding. Photo / Warren Buckland
Lee stated that had the Chamber known further funding tranches were coming, some of the seven Esk Valley businesses that unsuccessfully requested the full entitlement under the business support scheme ($40,000) could have received it.
Kieran McAnulty, the ministerial lead for Hawke’s Bay’s cyclone recovery, has indicated the leftover money may still be used for its intended purpose as he waits for advice from officials on what an appropriate solution would be.
“I’m just waiting for the advice back, but obviously it was put up to assist people that needed it and I’d like to see that used in that capacity,” he told the Herald.
The owner of Esk Valley restaurant Valley D’Vine, Greg Miller, initially applied for the full $40,000 but was told he was only eligible for $10,000.
A second application with further evidence of the damage to his business led to him receiving $25,000.
Miller estimated he’d lost up to $400,000 with his restaurant still unopen. Had he received $40,000, Miller suspected he may have been able to open a month ago.
He welcomed McAnulty’s comments but said the remaining funds should be targeted appropriately.
“[It] should at least go to those businesses that didn’t get the full $40,000.
“The Chamber should go out and approach those people.”
Esk Valley was one of the worst-impacted areas in Hawke's Bay following Cyclone Gabrielle.
The revelation he might have received $40,000 had the Chamber been aware of further funding added to Miller’s dissatisfaction with how the money was distributed, particularly the amounts given to businesses within Napier’s CBD.
“I think that what’s been done is unfair and I think some weird stuff has gone on, especially when you look at who got what money.”
Fellow Esk Valley resident Maik Beekmans told the Herald he intended to submit a request to the Ombudsman in the coming days to investigate how the money was distributed.
Lee, speaking last week, was confident any investigation would find appropriate processes were followed, including when deciding between Chamber members and non-members.
“We were very fair across everything, membership did not factor into any part of this process.”
Regarding the leftover funding, Lee explained there were three tranches of funding allocated to local providers for businesses in regions impacted by the severe weather events earlier in the year.
The Chamber told the Government it estimated it needed about $7.5m to service the remaining need, but it was given about $12m on May 9.
“I think it’s actually a good thing that the Government actually gave us more funds than what we had estimated,” Lee said.
“That meant that we had that room not to count each and every penny to the last cent.”
Lee said it was unfortunate it wasn’t known more money was to be provided soon after the cyclone hit the region, as it may have meant businesses received more than what they ended up getting.
She wouldn’t speculate what potential scheme could be used to distribute the remainder of the money, but did hope it was devoted to the region in some form.
“I would love to think that this money will be directed back into Hawke’s Bay’s recovery.”
Kieran McAnulty became the ministerial lead for Hawke's Bay's cyclone recovery after Meka Whaitiri left Labour to join Te Pāti Māori. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“After thousands of phone calls and emails, I totally disagree that there’s a disconnect between the Hawke’s Bay Chamber and the business community because we communicated so much with everybody.
“We put it out about the funding within the first day to all of our networks through all communities, and we got everyone to push that out through councils, through business associations, through our iwi, through our partners, we pushed it everywhere.”
Beekmans strongly contested this and was very critical of what he considered insufficient communication from the Chamber on how to access the funding.
McAnulty last week said the funding distribution would be reviewed, but didn’t think there was cause for concern.
“I don’t want to suggest that [the Chamber] haven’t done a good job because if you look at the number of people, the number of businesses that they’ve been able to give support to in a short period of time, I think they’ve done well.”
Asked whether funding being unspent was regrettable, McAnulty said it was partly a symptom of the process being locally led but he restated his intention to see it support impacted businesses.
“I’d like to see that used for its intended purpose. If there’s a way that we can streamline that further, then I’m up for that.”
National Party cyclone recovery spokesman Chris Penk said McAnulty shouldn’t be waiting for advice to make a decision.
“All the advice is on the ground in Hawke’s Bay,” Penk said.
