Council forced to spend more than a penny on toilets

A Southland council is being forced to borrow $200,000 to keep up with the increased costs of maintaining and upgrading public toilets.

The figures were presented in the Forecasted Financial Position report for the year ending June 30, 2021 at the Southland District Council’s (SDC) finance and assurance committee meeting on Wednesday.

From toilets in Garston to Monkey Island, costs ranged from $367 to $25,801 for an individual site, and covered a range of expenses including supplies, septic tank cleaning, upgrades and operational costs.

Councillors raised concerns over how much the toilets cost.

Staff said while long-standing local contractors were on a very low rate, once a review was carried out and the new tender went out, contract costs went up "considerably".

Group manager services and assets Matt Russell said volunteer arrangements were once in place, as well as materials only-type supplies but the “needle has moved’’.

“We’re now in an environment where we are employing contractors on market rates as opposed to convenient arrangements that don’t consider some of the wider compliance and liability type of implications for the organisation."

Those implications included people no longer being able to work alone, and the change in health and safety regulations.

Chairman Bruce Robertson questioned why the extensive list of costs related to toilets were all paid for via loans.

Chief financial officer Anne Robson said it was due to the fact rates had already been set for the year, which meant the council had to look for the funds elsewhere.

Councillors generally accepted the reasonings behind the hike in costs.

The new rates were incorporated into the Long Term Plan 2021-31.

 

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