Whanganui Regional Museum gets council grant of up to $250,000 as financial pressure bites

Whanganui District Council owns the museum building and is its primary funder. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui Regional Museum has secured emergency funding of up to $250,000 from the Whanganui District Council to tackle financial issues after falling foul of Inland Revenue.

It is conditional on the council completing a full review of the museum’s operations, with the museum bound to implement any decisions made.

A report by council chief executive David Langford said general inflationary pressures had increased the museum’s costs.

Its budget included revenue of $150,000 from fundraising “but no fundraising activity has been achieved” and the museum had a debt to the IRD for failing to pay PAYE and underpaying GST.

“This has accrued penalties and it is understood that a payment plan is now in place,” the report said.

At a council meeting this week, museum director Bronwyn Labrum said there had now been changes to reporting through the Inland Revenue Department login portal and a new accountant was working with the IRD on the payment plan.

She said she sat before councillors “feeling quite a lot of embarrassment and uncomfortableness”.

“The previous accountant thought the IRD had made errors and the IRD hadn’t,” Labrum said.

“Then, there was the question of whether all communication between the accountant and the IRD was happening in a timely fashion.

“We were horrified when we learned the extent of it.”

The council gives the museum $1.125 million annually and that is proposed to increase to $1.3m for the 2024/25 financial year.

However, that will not begin until July 1 this year.

Langford said the council needed to help the museum until then.

Whanganui Regional Museum director Bronwyn Labrum. Photo / Bevan Conley

“Longer term, we need to make some fundamental or systemic changes that mean we don’t get back here this time next year.”

The council would take a “root and branches review” of the museum that covered its governance, service delivery, funding, and finance, he said.

“The review has already been commissioned and has just started. All things being equal, it should be completed by the end of the financial year.”

Langford’s report said a professional service provider would undertake the review which was estimated to cost $36,000 and would be debt-funded.

The $250,000 grant would also be debt-funded.

The Whanganui Regional Museum Trust owns the museum’s collection and is in charge of its operations. The council owns the building and is the museum’s primary funder.

Councillor Ross Fallen, a member of the museum’s electoral college, said it was grossly understaffed and he was aware of at least four vacancies.

Museums across the country were dealing with cost issues, he said.

“They are slipping back from where they need to be, even on a basic, operational level.

“This is very timely for [the council] to step in. I support this.”

All councillors except Michael Law voted in favour of the grant.

Earlier in the meeting, Law said museum staff had failed to bring the issues to the council at an appropriate time and had failed to provide sufficient information, but Mayor Andrew Tripe raised a point of order.

Tripe said Labrum came to the council to highlight financial issues as soon as she could.

Law then said council leadership had not come to elected members quickly enough. That prompted another point of order.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and 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.