Funding Policy adoption

The views of the community have helped to shape a revised draft of the Community Facility Funding Policy, back before the Community Services Committee, next week, Queenstown Lakes District Council community services general manager Paul Wilson said.

The policy addresses everything from rentals for clubs and societies through to sport and venue charges with a recommendation to generally increase ratepayer subsidies and a move towards free youth sport.

After a ‘pre-consultation’ process with the community, the draft policy was released for comment last year, attracting strong community interest which culminated in submissions and two hearings in Wanaka and Queenstown during April.

“It was always going to be a challenge to strike the right balance of rates funding and direct user charges for the various facilities provided by the council,” Mr Wilson said.

A major complication for the community and the council was that the application of charges and rentals had been inconsistent.

‘Historically it lacked fairness but that issue had to be weighed with things like affordability and membership for existing clubs in a reasonably challenging economic climate,” Mr Wilson said.

The draft policy needed to establish a new framework for setting charges and rentals and through the public process it was able to be adapted to meet concerns and issues raised by the community.

Some of the key aspects of the revised policy to be considered by the committee on Tuesday are:

• The cost structure for sports field users has been simplified and a local club season rate introduced, discounted to incorporate free youth sport. This will result in a reduction of costs for most sports clubs, which can be passed on to youth members.
• Fees will be waived for small community clubs who will be granted licences subject to review.
• A proposed commercial coaching concession will no longer apply, subject to formal agreements with clubs.
• A continuing level of subsidy will be applied to make rentals affordable for clubs subject to annual review.
• Where clubs are occupying small areas of reserve (up to 1 ha) no rental will apply. Clubs with a larger area than 1 ha will be asked to pay a modest rental. This will see the majority of clubs move to paying no rental and the majority of golf clubs paying reduced rental.
• A threshold of $300,000 gross (excluding GST) has been set around club profits for food and beverage. Only if clubs exceed this threshold will they pay 5% on the value of trading.

“Overall, if the committee accepts the revised policy, we are looking at a recommendation to fund the $78,000 deficit in revenue by increasing the operational subsidy to Lakes Leisure,” Mr Wilson said. This will be funded from increased rates.

The ‘lease and licence’ component, amounts to a subsidy increase of $13,569, which will be met by the ratepayer and has been factored into the draft Annual Plan.

The recommendation was that the policy be applied to rentals as each club or society came up for rent review.

“I think it is a very positive outcome that reflects the value that our communities place on sport and recreation, particularly around youth participation,” Mr Wilson said.

He extended his thanks to both the council working party and the community for engaging on the draft policy.
ENDS

The agenda item and revised policy are available online on the council website click here