The Invercargill City Council will be the new owner of the city's financially-troubled Rugby Park, but chief executive Richard King says he hopes neighbouring councils will also contribute towards running costs.
Councillors voted 5-4 on Tuesday to take over the facility from the Southland Outdoor Stadium Trust, which has loans and financial commitments of more than $1.1 million it cannot meet.
Mr King said ownership would be transferred as soon as two weeks once a series of conditions were met.
One condition was the council paying the stadium trust $400,000 so it could repay a loan to the Community Trust of Southland.
That payment would be made from council reserves, Mr King said.
From July, the council expects to spend $290,000 a year from rates on operating and maintaining Rugby Park.
Tuesday's decision was made during a marathon five-hour meeting which included two hours spent considering more than 170 submissions on ownership options.
While there was some support for the council taking over ownership, many submitters were concerned it was another financial imposition on ratepayers.
Two councillors were absent because of ill health and another two did not vote because of conflicts of interest.
Mr King said yesterday the neighbouring Southland and Gore district councils would, within the next 12 months, be asked to contribute to Rugby Park.
The city council had asked him to write a report on facilities which could be considered regional assets, and to come up with a suggested funding formula for three local authorities.
The formula could be distance-based or population based or user based, he said.
''It would nice to get a contribution from our neighbouring councils for Rugby Park and other facilities in recognition of the value of regional facilities.''
There was precedent for shared funding, he said, with the Southland District Council already contributing to the Southland Museum & Art Gallery and $50,000 a year to the indoor ILT Stadium Southland.
Other regional facilities could include Invercargill's Civic Theatre and Gore's ice skating rink, Mr King said.
Southland District Mayor Gary Tong said yesterday his council had not been asked to contribute to Rugby Park and ''had not been put in the picture'' about the implications of the city council taking over ownership.
''There could have been more collaboration and communication before we got to this point. All I have had is one informal conversation with a city councillor.''
Mr Tong said if his council was formally asked to contribute, it would have to put a figure into its longterm plan budget and ''let ratepayers have their say''.
Gore Mayor Tracy Hicks could not be reached for comment yesterday.
