Water services up to $1m over budget

"Taking money from the renewals budget to cover over-expenditure for water services is a major concern", Queenstown Lakes District Council Councillor Cath Gilmour said at a council utilities committee meeting yesterday.

The committee was presented with a report on the water and wastewater operations for the district, which showed a substantial budget blowout, especially for Queenstown's water supply and for wastewater operations in Queenstown, Arrowtown and Wanaka.

In his report, QLDC 3 waters manager (wastewater, stormwater and potable water) Gerry Essenberg said compared with the rest of the district, the cost of maintenance for wastewater in Queenstown was on average 3.2 times higher, and for the water supply 2.5 times higher.

Mr Essenberg told the commissioners the total expenditure for the year for operating and maintaining the water services could be up to $1 million over budget.

This was due mainly to costly repairs on the old network in Queenstown.

In order to meet the over-expenditure, he had proposed to cover a total amount of about $660,000 by using funds set aside in the budget for renewals on the water network.

The council would also aim to cut costs on the use of CCTV and inspections.

Cr Gilmour asked if it was false economy to only do the minimal repairs needed, while taking the money from the renewals budget.

Mr Essenberg acknowledged the dilemma, but said while faults on the water network often showed dysfunctional or vulnerable installations, funds were usually availble only for the immediate repair, rather than actual replacements.

"It is the nature of Queenstown water that we will have to do more and more repairs over time, because the network is old and not very robust.

"Most often, we only have money for the immediate repair, which just has to be done," he said.

Councillor Vanessa van Uden shared the concern about using the renewals budget for maintenance.

"By simply using the renewals budget, we are creating a huge future burden for ratepayers.

"We can't just go on adding to the rates," she said.

She also questioned whether the council's contractor, United Water, was being adequately monitored.

"The council's current contract is up for renewal next year.

"The contractor needs to give us and the residents reassurance they will be doing the work in the most efficient way.

"And Mr Essenberg and his team need to assure us the quality and efficiency of the contractor's work is satisfying," Cr van Uden said.

Mr Essenberg promised to follow up with further audits on the work of the contractor.

"We are strongly aware of the cost of the maintenance.

"The contract is still running for more than a year.

"Within this financial year I will be presenting the committee with a report on my future review of whether or not I will recommend the contract to be extended," he said.

The committee agreed to run a workshop to address evaluation of the contract.

The report was received by the committee.