The error was only recently discovered and was tabled at the Risk and Assurance Committee meeting last week. It equates to about $626 per ratepayer, and about 12% of the planned spending for the year.
"I warned the council a year after I left that if they don’t act like a board of directors the council finances will run out of control ... sadly that’s happening," the mayor of 21years said.
He had noted a willingness to blame everyone else — "the past council, the past [chief executive], the government ... this has got to stop ... the buck stops with the current council", Mr Kokshoorn said.
"Bureaucracy has taken over the governance and there is no push back from mayor or councillors, and the inevitable has happened — finances are out of control and debt is ballooning.
"When I was there, we had 79 employees working for council, and in six years that has blown out to 100.
"Mayor and councillors have to get on top of it and stop spending, otherwise the situation will be even worse than it is.
"The continual rate increases of 10% or more are punishing the retired and low-income people. There are many on fixed incomes, retirees in 80-year-old bungalows who simply cannot afford the continual increase that they are getting."
Last week, the multimillion dollar budget mistake in the 2024-25 "enhanced annual plan"
was blamed on "a lack of corporate knowledge".
The discrepancies were discovered by a newly returned manager.
The finance department said it needed more time "to understand the full picture and likely funding implications".
The "budgeting error" adds to a $6.37m deficit in the previous year’s annual report, filed in March.
After that deficit, updates were to be provided each month to compare actual spending against the budget. No additional spending beyond the budget was to occur without sign off by the council, and staff would be pushed for better financial oversight, internal controls, responsibility and cost consciousness.
At the time, the council said it was "confident" the situation would not repeat.
While the council says the new error is not expected to affect rate rises this year, it is unclear what effect it will have in coming years. — Greymouth Star
