Waitomo District Council has agreed to a request from the Game On Charitable Trust to put off its payment for stadium construction for another year.
Photo: New Zealand.com
A council grant of $1.5 million to assist with the construction of the $7m North King Country Indoor Sports and Recreation Centre was agreed to in 2018 and was originally to have been paid out in 2019-20, and then in the 2020-21 financial year.
The draw-down is now expected to take place during the 2021-22 financial year.
Councillors agreed to the request with little discussion.
"What this means is that there is an ability for the Game On Trust to come back to council to seek the payment of the grant, it is not a resolution paying the grant," mayor John Robertson said.
It was carried unanimously.
The staff report said the draft 2021-2031 10-Year Plan projections were on the basis that the drawdown of the $1.5m loan would have already occurred in the just ended financial year - before the new 10YP came into effect on Thursday. So there is no specific reference to the loan in the new 10 Year Plan.
Interest costs and principal repayments for the loan were included in the total rates requirement for Year 1 (2021-2022) of the new 10-Year Plan.
There is capacity for the loan to be raised in Year 1 (2021-2022), as the projected opening balance for the 2021-2022 FY included the anticipated drawdown of the loan before end of last month.
A further delay beyond June 2022 would require suspension of the funding requirement for the interest cost and principal repayments.
A council resolution is required to approve the raising of the $1.5 million loan to fund the grant, as the loan is not included as an action in the 10 Year Plan.
The council received 94 submissions on the stadium when it consulted with the community as part of the 2018-28 10 Year Plan, with 67 percent in support of the council granting $1.5m towards the project.
The project is being looked at by a project steering group comprising key stakeholder organisations, including council representatives.
The role of the group is to review project fundamentals and assist in informing a pathway forward to enable the project to proceed.
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