Over the next 12-18 months, the district council is planning to consult on the future of 13 under-utilised halls.
They are in Ladbrooks, Lake Coleridge, Mead, Sheffield, Tawera, Courtenay, Doyleston, Glenroy, Greendale, Greenpark, Halkett, Killinchy, and Kimberley.
Glenroy Residents Association member Samuel Dennis said the focus should be on making savings from big facilities like the Lincoln Event Centre, Rolleston Community Centre and West Melton Recreation and Community Centre, not the smaller halls.
“When you add up all the money the little halls are losing, they are losing $150,000 a year when you add it all together,” Dennis told the Malvern Community Board.
"The three big halls that (council staff) say are high performing, together they are losing $600,000 a year, and that is only operating cost.
“If you actually wanted to make savings, it would be the big halls you’d look at, or other areas."
Unlike like the small halls, the event centre and community centres are staffed.
His personal view is that if booking costs were increased, fewer people would use the centre and it would lose more money.
Springfield Community Association chair Graeme Dawson said without a hall, there would be no community meeting area.
“If you take a hall away from a community of 350 people with no other facility in the area to hold that size of meeting, you have taken away the community.”
Mayor Lydia Gliddon said there are no plans to close any of the small halls, but a community could run its own hall.
"In my view, it is not actually about divesting and shutting things down, it is how we make best use of what we have got,” Gliddon said.
"We have got some communities wanting to take responsibility for their hall, so why are we not letting them do that?”
She said the council could have management agreements with the communities.
Gliddon said all operational expenditure, including the community centres at Rolleston, Lincoln and West Melton, is being reviewed as part of this year’s annual plan.
“No decisions have been made, and any changes would involve community input.”
HAVE YOUR SAY Do you think the council should look for savings at big community centres or small town halls? Email your views in 200 words or less to daniel.alvey@alliedmedia.co.nz
