Bay Venues handover

Ownership of ratepayer's assets, including most of the city's sports halls, is to be handed over to the council-controlled organisation Bay Venues Ltd.

The assets include Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre and Memorial Hall, Mt Maunganui Sports Centre, Bethlehem Hall and Greerton Community Hall.


Greerton Community Hall. Photo: File.

Also included are Matua Hall, Tauriko Hall, Welcome Bay Hall, Arataki Community Centre and the Papamoa Sport and Recreation Centre.

Baycourt's management and ownership is under review as part of a wider discussion around the delivery of arts and culture within Tauranga.

The hand over, which is subject to public consultation, is among a number of changes to the structure and funding arrangements of Bay Venues Ltd, which the council says will clarify performance expectations and remove barriers to achieving them.

Other changes will see the Bay Venues operation recapitalised to a debt/equity ratio of 20:80. The new financial arrangements are intended to result in a reduced interest rate burden for the CCO and a corresponding drop in the amount of rate funding received.

User fees and charges for the venues are not expected to exceed five per cent of total operating expenditure, with the remaining 95 per cent to be funded by general rates.

The changes are planned to take effect at the beginning of the new financial year and will not have any impact on external Council debt or total rates requirements.

Nor will they affect the ownership of Bay Venues, which continues to be a fully owned council entity. The new conditions are included in a letter of expectation from Tauranga city to Bay Venues which sets out the conditions under which the CCO operates.

The letter of expectation was approved by council this week, along with amendments to the way the CCO operates that are designed to provide a more sustainable, competitive and practical structure and funding basis for the CCO.

They are made following consultation with the Bay Venues' board and are the outcome of an agreed set of principles that encourages directors to operate in an efficient, open and entrepreneurial manner, while providing key services to customers.

Mayor Stuart Crosby says the proposed amended structure and funding arrangements are a continuation of the process to find the optimum operating environment.

'Bay Venues provides a number of key services to the community,” says Stuart. 'By continually reviewing and improving our relationship with our CCO we will get the best outcomes for everyone. The changes made today are part of this collaborative journey.”

Bay Venues chairman Peter Farmer says the decisions allow Bay Venues to continue with its successful focus on cost reduction and developing increased revenue streams.

'The Bay Venues board is determined to provide the best possible venues and events. The people of Tauranga deserve no less,” says Peter.

You may also like....

4 comments

We don't learn from our mistakes

Posted on 18-11-2014 14:05 | By mouldy

Another LATE that will be run for the good of it's existance boosting costs to venue users. It will build an empire and pay huge unjustified salaries to opportunists - when will we learn


How have they gone with Baypark

Posted on 18-11-2014 16:46 | By BullShtAlert

How did this Bay Venues outfit do with Baypark? Have they reduced the amount ratepayers are paying in loans and subsidies? If they have, then give them more control, but if things have got worse, take the responsibility away?


This

Posted on 18-11-2014 21:38 | By Capt_Kaveman

Whole ideal smells like a dirty rat and needs to be dismantled, these rate payer services are becoming out of reach of avg city folk look at the Mt hotpools for eg well if you look at the sign it says hotpoo lol


Amalgamation agenda

Posted on 18-11-2014 23:22 | By Murray.Guy

All part of the disenfranchise the community from the assets they own, subsidize and are liable for by putting the assets into a CCO. This also better paves the way for any future amalgamation process. In regards efforts to date, that is all very secret and goes undisclosed, but it is widely accepted that overhead costs have gone through the roof and previously repeated assurances of financial and operational efficiencies and benefits are further away than when they began!


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.