Stop the Stadium

Otago Daily Times, 23 Oct 2008

Dunedin’s financial future is one of high spending and high debt, and a city council manager has warned major city projects, including the stadium, may need to be reconsidered.

While the Dunedin City Council’s year-end financial result is a $3.9 million surplus, the city is budgeted to borrow $92.8 million this financial year for the stadium, the West Taieri and northern water schemes, the Tahuna wastewater scheme and the Otago Settlers Museum.

Council finance and corporate support general manager Athol Stephens said in the council’s draft annual report that debt management remained a concern in the face of volatile financial markets, and there was concern about the availability of finance….

Asked whether it was time to take another look at projects like the stadium, Mayor Peter Chin said yesterday the council was keeping a close eye on the situation, and would continue to do so when it considered its draft budget in January….

Finance and strategy committee chairman Richard Walls said until the situation changed, projects like the Settlers Museum, the Tahuna secondary treatment plant, and drainage and road renewal might have to be deferred.

“The stadium is in that mix.”

But Cr Walls said nobody should be losing sleep over the issue….

Dr Alan Stent, a senior lecturer in finance and quantitative analysis at the University of Otago, told the Otago Daily Times he believed now was not the time for councils to be increasing their capital expenditure or debt levels.

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Rugby Heaven, 29 August 2008

An $188 million stadium for Dunedin is closer after the city council said it had acquired all the land needed for the project for more than $32m.

The original budget for land acquisition was $20m, and Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry said the task was more difficult than expected, “probably through a mixture of optimism and naivety”.

Council acting chief executive Kate Styles said the $32.58m spent was slightly misleading because some of the land would be sold to the Crown for the realignment of State Highway 88.

She expected the final figure to be between $20m and $22m after land sales.

Project opponent Stop the Stadium, which was formed last month and has more than 1000 members, said the council had paid too much for the land.

» Read more…

Otago Daily Times, Opinion Piece, 21 Aug 2008

In the context of the Dunedin City Council’s deliberations on its long term plan, councillors Dave Cull, Chris Staynes and Kate Wilson have raised with council colleagues a number of “important questions” on the public funding of the proposed Awatea St Stadium.A final decision must be made soon on the proposed stadium.

However, not all the issues are the same as when the project was first mooted.

It is increasingly clear that the stadium will come at enormous cost to the city, now and into the future, yet it may not contain what the community was promised.

That poses a number of questions - questions we have asked our fellow councillors to consider.

What are we getting? The Carisbrook Stadium Trust has promoted the stadium as a well-equipped, multi-purpose venue with minimum 20,000 permanent seats, and maximum capacity of about 30,000.

There were three stands, and a paved area for a temporary fourth stand.

However the trust has stated that because the budget is fixed, the project is cost-driven rather than design-driven.

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