No spend-up for well heeled STDC

SOUTH TARANAKI district is in a healthy financial position but will not be going on a spending spree, its council chief says.
The finances of South Taranaki District Council were laid out in its annual report, adopted on Wednesday. Chief executive Craig Stevenson gave the Chronicle an overview. The council received $35 million in the 2004-05 year. Of this, $12.5 million was in general rates and $7 million in targeted rates.
The remaining funds were from user fees and charges, grants, subsidies and interest on its long term investment fund.
Mr Stevenson said almost $15 million was spent on roading, which was a typical amount for a large and thinly populated district.
"We've got 1483 kilometres of roading, and almost 81 percent of it is sealed."
A total of $1.7 million was spent on the district's seven Library Plus outlets ? one in each rural town of any size. This was "fairly unique" in New Zealand, but maintained a council presence throughout the district.
Another big chunk, slightly under $6 million, went on the wages and salaries of council employees. The highest of those was Mr Stevenson's own, $170,000 a year.
He said this was comparable with other districts of the same size and complexity but less than a private company would pay for someone doing the same sort of work.
Both local and central government pay tended to lag behind the private sector in pay rates.
"But I'm not complaining. I'm not actually doing it for money. I've been working in the industry for 30 years, and I love it."
The pay of elected council members used up another $0.25 million. Highest paid was Mayor Mary Bourke, who got $62,000.
Mr Stevenson said this was "pretty miserable", and was controlled by government.
"Mayors are generally underpaid. They can work seven days a week and their phones are always going."
The next highest paid elected member was Cr Ross Dunlop, on nearly $27,000.
South Taranaki had 32 elected representatives for its population of 30,000, a high number. But Mr Stevenson said it they didn't cost extra because the available money went into a pool and was divided up.
One reason for the district's buoyancy was its $90 million long-term investment fund.
The money was received from the sale of Egmont Electricity in 1997, and was invested.
The fund had fluctuated, but was still at $90 million. Every year $3.867 million was taken out as a rates subsidy, and a further $300,000 for community projects.
The council had no external debt, but had lent itself $22 million from the long term investment fund.
The next big extra cost would be upgrading ageing water and wastewater schemes to meet ever higher standards set by central government.
"We'll be up for many millions of dollars in upgrades. "That will probably be the biggest cost in the next 10 years," Mr Stevenson said. The district's proposed multi-sport leisure venue would be another expense, if it went ahead.
"It will involve some significant spending.
"We're looking for creative ways to fund it without hitting the rates. We could use the long term investment fund, but that's only one option."