“It was a sizeable sum of money, but there was always going to be a risk that it never came through, just because how politically fraught the Three Waters issue has been,” Langford said.
“Whilst it’s a real disappointment we’re going to miss out on that funding, we hadn’t banked on having it and we hadn’t started spending it before we had it.”
Under the conditions of the funding, the money couldn’t have been put in the bank or used to pay off debt, it had to be spent on projects, Langford said.
“Ultimately, we have to remember that it would have come from communities across the country.
“Just because it’s not rate payer-funded and it’s coming from central government, it’s still taxpayer funding.
“There’s no such thing as free money. It’s all got to come from somewhere.”
Whanganui District Council chief executive David Langford. Photo / Bevan Conley
There hadn’t been any plans on how the money would have been spent, he said.
“No doubt we would have wanted to have a conversation with our iwi partners and with our community through the long-term plan.
“Now it doesn’t exist anymore so it’s all a bit pointless. It goes back to that point - don’t start spending money you haven’t got yet. You’ll get disappointed if it doesn’t turn up.”
Acting Whanganui mayor Helen Craig said because the “better off” funding had to be spent on projects, it “almost felt like a bit of bribe”.
“I hate to say that, it sounds terrible, but it was,” Craig said.
“It wasn’t money we could put off debt with, and it wasn’t money we couldn’t restructure ourselves with.
“Now, they [the Government] are saying ‘we’re not going to give you that bribe money because you haven’t done what we wanted’.”
Langford said the council had received around $6m from the first tranche of funding, which was going towards the Sarjeant Gallery, climate change initiatives, and helping local hapū upgrade marae.
That money was secure.
“We are certainly watching and waiting to see what happens next,” he said.
“The national elections in October could be another turning point, with more change on the horizon.”
The Ruapehu District Council will lose $12.34m in second-tranche “better off” funding.
Mayor Weston Kirton said it was a big hit.
“The community will be upset about that because they had great plans for some of the major projects in this district,” Kirton said.
“The big issue though, as I’ve talked about before, is the debt.
“Now the Government doesn’t have to spend $1 billion, or whatever it is, on ‘better off’ funding, maybe they will see merit in helping out some of those smaller communities get that debt off the books.
“I’m probably being optimistic but that’s what we’re fighting for.”
