The last council, in March, resolved to put money from the sale of a Merioneth St property it owned into reducing debt — a sale which recently netted a hefty $2.761million.
However, in Mountain Scene last week, Queenstowner Susanna Martin said back in 2007 her late husband John Martin had paid $1.9m to buy three decaying historic miners’ cottages, and the neighbouring, non-historic Merioneth St property, specifically to keep Arrowtown heritage alive.
He then on-sold the properties, at no extra cost, to the council.
"The fact [$2.761m’s] gone into the Queenstown pot is just an absolute joke," she said.
Arrowtown-Kawarau ward councillor Melissa White is now leading the charge to reverse council’s original decision. She says councillors didn’t have information on how a lot of Arrowtown funding had contributed to the original purchase of the cottages and the Merioneth St property — and the subsequent restoration of the cottages — when it made its resolution.
"What we really need is the accurate details of how much the Arrowtown community did contribute."
After that, White says she’d favour some or all of the money fetched from the sale going into township heritage projects like the restoration of the crumbling Butler’s Wall.
She adds it’ll be up to the full council to reconsider the distribution of funds.
