Just three weeks after the Waitaki District Council was sworn in following last month's triennial local elections, a date has been set for a by-election that could cost about $20,000.
The council was sworn in on October 23, but the lack of a candidate
for the Ahuriri ward means the council table is one person short. Council electoral officer David Blair said a by-election to fill the vacancy as well as other vacancies on the Ahuriri Community Board and the Oamaru Licensing Trust would be held on February 11.
For the recent election, only three nominations were received for the five-member Ahuriri Community Board, and only two nominations were received for three vacancies in the Oamaru Licensing Trust ward one.
''Nominations for the February by-election will open on Monday, November 18, 2013. These will be called for one councillor for the Ahuriri ward, two members for the Ahuriri Community Board and one member for the Oamaru Licensing Trust ward one.''
Mr Blair said candidate information packs and nomination forms would be available from Monday
during normal business hours at the Waitaki District Council electoral office in Oamaru and the Waihemo Service Centre in Palmerston.
The costs of the by-election would depend on how many candidates took part, but he said the 2009 election for the Oamaru Licensing Trust ward one with three candidates was $19,000.
''The cost of an election is not a set figure and the largest cost is around the printing, posting and processing of voting document and that is influenced by the number of voters.''
On the October 2013 roll, there were 8464 Oamaru Licensing Trust ward one voters, and 900 on the Ahuriri roll, he said.
''The cost of things like adverts, public notices or candidate handbooks, for example, do not double or triple in cost because there are two or three issues in the election.
''The cost of an extra line in an ad or page in a handbook in not much.''
Nominations must be lodged at the council office, 20 Thames St, Oamaru, no later than midday on Monday, December 16, 2013, he said.
He added that people living in the Ahuriri area would receive voting papers with the council ward seat and the Ahuriri Community Board on them, while people living in the Oamaru Licensing Trust ward one area, which was mostly in the town, would receive voting papers with just the licensing trust on them.
