Ruapehu council launches review into $700,000 overspend

Maintenance budgets for reserves in Ohakune (pictured), Raetihi and Taumaranui had unbudgeted expenditure for professional consultancy fees. Photo / Zaryd Wilson

An investigation has been launched following a projected overspend of about $700,000 at the Ruapehu District Council.

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton said the expenditure was for the 2024/25 financial year and fell within the council’s community and recreational services, which oversaw parks, reserves, public toilets, administration buildings and local walking and cycling tracks.

A council report said the costs were approved “based on information which did not align with the finance department’s information”.

“The overspends consist of significant contractual cost escalations and unscheduled maintenance work being carried out,” it said.

Maintenance budgets for reserves in Raetihi, Ohakune and Taumarunui all had unbudgeted expenditure for professional consultancy fees, coming in at $85,000, $13,000 and $31,000 respectively.

At a meeting on April 16, executive infrastructure manager Vini Dutra said the council’s financial department had flagged the overspends previously and his “team should have reacted quicker”.

He said a lot of data had to be gathered to determine what needed to be done in the next few years in infrastructure

“To manage our reserves and understand the cost of tree work across the district, we did assessments that were meant to contribute to building that picture.

“Looking back, we should have been a lot more accurate with our [cost] projections, which, financially, have hurt us.”

Council chief executive Clive Manley said at the time decisions were made, staff members expected to offset costs with savings in other areas, but that had not occurred.

“They didn’t deliberately say ‘We are going to spend an extra $700,000′," he said.

The Taumarunui Aerodrome ($16,700) and the Sunshine Track Bridge Reinstatement ($24,700) had unscheduled maintenance, and $23,500 was spent to paint two public toilets in Taumarunui.

There was an overspend of about $56,000 at the Taumarunui Walking Track, including $48,000 in track maintenance.

The council report said that was mostly due to bringing the track project forward to utilise the Government’s Better Off Funding, which required maintenance of new track areas.

Kirton told the Chronicle the situation required cool heads, and a review of the overspend was underway.

“This couldn’t have happened at a worse time, with waters bills coming in and other expenditures.

“Nevertheless, we will work through it and get on top of it.”

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton says the situation requires cool heads.

He said while the overspends were not a good look, it was better to address them immediately, “rather than have auditors crawling all over it”.

“Are we doing something about it? Yes. Did we know about it before this? No.”

At the meeting, councillor Lyn Neeson said she was “really disappointed in the structure that allowed this to happen”.

“I’m astounded there is this level of non-control.”

Duntra said all consultancy work had been stopped for the rest of the financial year.

Council chief financial officer Quentin Speers said to maintain a level of service for the community, any remaining overspend would have to be funded through debt.

That would likely mean debt levels set for the council’s 10-year (long-term) plan would be breached, he said.

Kirton said the review had to be done in a fair and just way.

“It is worth remembering that the overspent funds have not gone missing or been misappropriated.

“The expenditure has been on valuable community assets, including the river walkway in Taumarunui and reserve maintenance across the district.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.