A board meeting in Waitati on Wednesday heard that potential concerns had been raised in audit circles about the wide variation among the city’s community boards in the timing and procedures for making grants using council discretionary funds.
One suggestion had been that instead of the Waikouaiti board making grants at each meeting, it switch to making grants at every second meeting, effectively having four grant rounds a year.
Board chairman Alasdair Morrison said if the board’s approach was not "broke", it should not be fixed, and the current system had worked well for many years.
Ms Tait said other Dunedin boards were welcome to take a leaf out of Waikouaiti’s book but she saw no reason for it to change its practice.
There would be many disadvantages in switching to a less frequent grant round system, which would be "not helpful" and could reduce flexibility for community bodies in applying for grants.
It had been suggested the current situation could disadvantage some funding applicants seeking funds later in the year, but that situation "doesn’t happen here", she said.
Board members did not agree with adopting a standard four-round grant procedure.
