A review of Dunedin City Council grants funding could establish a clearer direction from this week.
Council staff have asked councillors for indications of where they stand on broad parameters before the next phase of the long-running review progresses.
The council was developing options over determining the annual amount of funding available, identifying and confirming the grant pools and agreeing upon the governance and decision-making structure for allocating grants, it said in an update to be discussed on Thursday.
Staff also wanted direction about "approval to progress procurement of a new grants management system or, alternatively, to defer this until decisions on the organisation-wide financial system are made".
They are set to come back with a detailed options paper next month.
The grants review goes back to 2023.
In September of that year, a report provided an overview of grant categories, budgets and expenditure.
It identified a need for more work to be done.
Last year, terms of reference were approved.
Since August 2024, a series of combined hui have been held with staff and elected representatives.
Topics included the need to clarify what constituted grants and why some were delivered through service-level agreements, others by memorandums of understanding or rates relief or the annual plan process.
Staff identified broad support for a more efficient and fit-for-purpose grants system, including the need for an online platform.
There was a perceived need to standardise the council’s approach to rates relief and to foster understanding of the purpose of some contestable grants.
In October this year, a meeting highlighted inconsistent use of the term "grants", the administrative burden on grant recipients and staff, the role grants could play in enhancing equity and the perceived need for increased funding to meet rising demand.
A grants subcommittee was not part of new Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker’s governance structure and grants have reverted to council approval, at least for the moment.
Last month, the council agreed to an interim arrangement for pending grant applications to a maximum of $5000 each to be decided by council staff until the end of the year.
Staff have proposed continuing with the grants review.
