Taxpayers to fund museum work

A public excluded item on the Te Ara Wai Museum project in Te Awamutu should have been held in public, Waipā councillor Roger Gordon told the council meeting this week.

Earlier this year, ratepayers were told they could pay all up more than $27 million – up from $7.2 million when first mooted in 2017. The News understands costs have gone up beyond the $30 million mark now.

See: Breaking story below.

Education at Te Ara Wai

Taxpayers – not ratepayers – will fund the design work for Te Ara Wai, the $33 million museum planned for Te Awamutu.

As The News went to press this week the Waipā District Council revealed the Government would help fund the New Zealand land wars museum, should it go ahead.

Roger Gordon

The statement was released yesterday after The News sought comment on councillor Roger Gordon’s statement that in-committee discussions on the issue should have been held in public.

The council statement said it had secured $5.24 million from the government’s Better Off Fund – last December.

It said a total of $1.7 million would be used to complete design work and seek resource consents for the old Bunnings building in Arawata Street.

The council statement said unless that work was done by next June, it will not be eligible to apply for funding from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.

The statement continued “the decision made by council today to push on with Te Ara Wai follows an independent review of the project. The review reassessed the scope and phasing options, operational budget and potential funding support. An economic impact assessment, based on just visitation from outside Waipā and the Waikato region, said Te Ara Wai would create close to 20 jobs and add an average of $1.985 million per year to Waipā’s gross domestic product”.

Susan O’Regan

It continued: “The review also reassessed costs with councillors advised total estimated costs now sit at $33 million. Council committed $23.5 million for the project build in its 2021-2031 Long-Term Plan, with some funding to come from asset sales. Of the $9.5 million funding gap, $2.95m from external sources has already been secured, leaving a funding shortfall of $6.55 million.”

The statement continued, quoting mayor Susan O’Regan said “every single councillor is acutely aware of rising costs and a changing economic landscape. So let’s go into this with our eyes wide open, before we are past the point of no return. That’s why the review was undertaken and is why we are staging this project carefully. Te Ara Wai is not a done deal yet.”

See: Tentative step forward for Te Ara Wai

The site for the planned Te Ara Wai museum in Te Awamutu.