Christchurch ratepayers look set to throw $15 million each at the Christ Church Cathedral and Canterbury Museum, in what the council’s finance chair has described as a “last roll of the dice” to finally get the city’s most contentious projects over the line.

The proposal still requires formal approval from the full council on 26 May.

The council is considering giving $4 million to the Christchurch School of Music.

The money will come with strings attached, and Sam MacDonald, Chair of the Council’s finance committee is making it clear it is not a blank cheque.

MacDonald said the proposal had been made possible by a $44 million surplus the council had run this year through underspending and efficiencies, and was designed to clean up “one off problems” before incoming rates capping kicks in.

“What we’ve said is that as we go into rates capping, so next year the rates will be a maximum of 6 percent, the year after 5 percent and the year after that forever 4 percent, we need to fix some of these one off problems so that we can basically finish it for the city,” MacDonald said.

“Probably the key thing to note is with all three of these proposals, the biggest thing is that they’re contingent on other people putting in money. So this isn’t the council being the funder of last resort. This is saying, look, we know there’s a problem, but actually if other people come to the party, let’s fix these once and for all so we can kind of move on as a city.”

Cathedral cash comes with conditions

The Cathedral had asked for $30 million from the council but will instead receive half that amount, with strict conditions attached.

“We’ve put conditions on each of these grants which say that in order to get the money there needs to be a deliverable pathway,” MacDonald said.

“What that means is that you won’t get a cent until you can prove to us that this project will be completed, and if that isn’t the case then the money doesn’t sit there, it’ll go down to paying down debt.”

“This isn’t a cheque to them. This is a ‘hey, we will provide for in our budget this amount of money if you can prove to us that we can do that’.”

MacDonald said “I think the Cathedral are probably a wee bit disappointed because they didn’t get everything they want, and they’re going to need to go and sell some assets, which I think frankly is fine,” he said.

He was also blunt that there would be no second bite at the apple.

“For the Cathedral, this money, if you can meet your requirements and deliver the project, great for you, but equally don’t expect to come back for stage two. This is full and final. This is us putting a line in the sand saying go and raise the money, go and sell some assets, but make a decision and get it done or else the deal is off.”

Museum to lean on international visitors

Alongside its $15 million grant, the Canterbury Museum is also proposed to receive a $28.6 million loan to be repaid over 25 years through an international visitor levy.

MacDonald said it had never made sense that ratepayers were footing the entire bill for the museum.

“The $15 million is a grant from the surpluses this year, so that means there’s no rate increase next year for it. It’s a one off piece of expenditure because we’ve saved money,” he said.

“For the balance of that money, that loan, there’s interest charged on it as well, so this becomes effectively a liability for them that they need to pay back over a period of time.”

“I’m confident that we’ve managed to move the museum to a point where they’re going to charge the international visitors. It never made sense that ratepayers were the only ones picking up the tab for the museum, and this way effectively forces them to bring in a levy so that overseas people are paying for the rebuild.”

If the museum couldn’t pay back the loan, MacDonald said, “we would cross that bridge”.

Government needs to come to the party

The funding package hinges on the government matching the council’s contribution, and MacDonald said the council had already started to see movement in Wellington.

“Winston Peters, which is really good, has come out and said they’ll give $15 million in the next coalition to the Cathedral,” he said.

“Originally the museum wanted 30 million from the government. I thought that was a bit of a stretch. We’ve worked it out so that if the government gave 15 million to the museum, the problems would all be sorted.”

He said the mayor would write formally to the museum asking it to lobby both sides of politics in the lead up to the election.

“You need to go and lobby government for the next four and a half months in the run up to the election. Whether you talk to the government of the day or the opposition, get a binding commitment,” he said.

McDonald said local MP Matt Doocey had already called for all Canterbury MPs to come together to work out a way forward.

“We didn’t get a no. We got a ‘wow, the council have come up with a solution, actually how do we work in with you?’ So we’ve blinked first, so to speak.”

Compromise across the board

The School of Music is also part of the package, and McDonald said the three institutions had each landed in a different spot.

“I think the School of Music is probably quite happy. The Cathedral are probably a wee bit disappointed. The museum probably would have loved a grant and to be able to get on with it. But ultimately ratepayers only have so much money to go around, so this is very much a compromise.”

He said the deal had taken what could have been a $200 million spending fund off the table.

“What we were proposing in the annual plan was to think about for the next 10 years what a $200 million fund might look like to fund iconic buildings. We’re not going to need to do that now. This has gone from a $200 million project to essentially a $34 million project, and it’s dealt with and given certainty a lot earlier.”

“It might seem like a lot of money, and certainly it is a lot of money, but actually it’s a pragmatic solution that we’re using money we’ve saved this year that we don’t force onto ratepayers in coming years.”

What happens next

MacDonald said today’s annual plan workshop, attended by Mayor Phil Mauger, the deputy mayor, Pauline Cotter and deputy finance chair Jake McLellan, had landed on a solution that the wider council appeared to back.

A paper will go to council on 26 May.

“Generally the consensus today from council, and there’ll be the odd exception, but largely it was that, hey, thank you for finding a solution that has effectively no bearing on the ratepayer going forward and can finally put these things to bed,” MacDonald said.

He said thousands of people had submitted on the plan and were calling for clarity.

“They wanted clarity and leadership from the council and I think that’s what we’re providing today.”