My Account
A doubling in the cost of a new maritime work vessel to $3.3 million has caused Northland Regional Council to change its tack on how the boat will be funded.
The purchase of a new work boat to replace Council’s almost 20-year-old vessel, the Waikare, was approved last year in the 2021-31 Long Term Plan and $1.6 million was set aside to pay for it.
However, Council chair Penny Smart said design and build costs had more than doubled since then, increasing the budget by $1.7 million to $3.3 million.
“This increase is largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its influence on costs and supply chains,” she said. “It has affected the cost of materials (particularly aluminium), the price of transporting materials to New Zealand and labour costs.”
Because of this Council has had to rethink funding and has decided to borrow the full cost through the Local Government Funding Agency and repay it over 15 years. Repayments will have to come from rates, but won’t have any impact on rates bills until 2023/24, when it will put around 80 cents on the average bill.
This change, together with improvements to public transport in Whangarei, are the main proposals being consulted on in Council’s 2022/23 Annual Plan, which is open for public feedback until April 29. Cr Smart said the annual average rates increase over that period would remain at $48 per rating unit for Kaipara ratepayers.
She added that the Waikare, which is based at Opua, was a key piece of council infrastructure, and not replacing it was not a realistic option, given the importance of the work it carries out on maintenance for buoys and beacons, responding to oil spills, acting as a pilot vessel and attending maritime incidents such as sinking vessels, all around the Northland coast.
Info and feedback options: www.nrc.govt.nz/annualplan2022
