Agenda of Puketāpapa Local Board

1 Welcome

2 Apologies

At the close of the agenda no apologies had been received.

3 Declaration of Interest

Members are reminded of the need to be vigilant to stand aside from decision making when a conflict arises between their role as a member and any private or other external interest they might have.

4 Leave of Absence

At the close of the agenda no requests for leave of absence had been received.

5 Acknowledgements

At the close of the agenda no requests for acknowledgements had been received.

6 Petitions

At the close of the agenda no requests to present petitions had been received.

7 Deputations

Standing Order 3.20 provides for deputations. Those applying for deputations are required to give seven working days notice of subject matter and applications are approved by the Chairperson of the Puketāpapa Local Board. This means that details relating to deputations can be included in the published agenda. Total speaking time per deputation is ten minutes or as resolved by the meeting.

At the close of the agenda no requests for deputations had been received.

8 Public Forum

A period of time (approximately 30 minutes) is set aside for members of the public to address the meeting on matters within its delegated authority. A maximum of 3 minutes per item is allowed, following which there may be questions from members.

At the close of the agenda no requests for public forum had been received.

9 Extraordinary Business

Section 46A(7) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as amended) states:

“An item that is not on the agenda for a meeting may be dealt with at that meeting if-

(a) The local authority by resolution so decides; and

(b) The presiding member explains at the meeting, at a time when it is open to the public,-

(i) The reason why the item is not on the agenda; and

(ii) The reason why the discussion of the item cannot be delayed until a subsequent meeting.”

Section 46A(7A) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as amended) states:

“Where an item is not on the agenda for a meeting,-

(a) That item may be discussed at that meeting if-

(i) That item is a minor matter relating to the general business of the local authority; and

(ii) the presiding member explains at the beginning of the meeting, at a time when it is open to the public, that the item will be discussed at the meeting; but

(b) no resolution, decision or recommendation may be made in respect of that item except to refer that item to a subsequent meeting of the local authority for further discussion.”

10 Notices of Motion

At the close of the agenda no requests for notices of motion had been received.

Puketāpapa Local Board

10 June 2015

Adoption of Local Board Agreement 2015/2016

File No.: CP2015/10505

Purpose

1. This report seeks adoption of local content for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025, including a Local Board Agreement 2015/2016, a message from the chair and local board advocacy, together with adoption of a Local Fees and Charges Schedules for 2015/2016.

2. This report also seeks agreement on library opening hours for 2015/2016, and includes supporting material for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 on 10 year local activity budgets and 10 year local performance targets.

Executive Summary

3. For each financial year, Auckland Council must have a local board agreement between the governing body and the local board, for each local board area.

4. Every three years a local board plan is developed to inform the long-term plan (and associated local board agreements) which outlines priorities, budgets and intended levels of service over a ten year period.

5. Between January and March this year, council consulted on proposed content for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025. Local boards then held discussions with the governing body on local feedback, common issues and local priorities prior to budget decisions being made on 8 May 2015.

6. Local boards are now considering local content for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 which includes a local board agreement, a message from the chair and local board advocacy, together with a Local Fees and Charges Schedules for 2015/2016 and library opening hours.

7. Local boards are also agreeing allocation of locally driven initiative funding to projects and services, including whether to top up additional library opening hours.

8. Other supporting material associated with the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 includes 10 year local activity capital expenditure budgets and 10 year local performance targets. This material does not form part of a local board agreement, but is incorporated in Volume 2 of the Long-term Plan 2015-2025, albeit at a higher programme level for budgets.

9. On 25 June 2015, the governing body will meet to adopt Auckland Council’s Long-term Plan 2015-2025 including 21 local board agreements and associated performance targets and budgets.

Recommendation/s

That the Puketāpapa Local Board:

a) adopt local content for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 (Attachment A), including:

i) a Local Board Agreement 2015/2016

ii) a message from the chair

iii) local board advocacy

b) adopt Local Fees and Charges Schedules for 2015/2016 (Attachment B)

c) agree Library Opening Hours for 2015/2016 (Attachment C) subject to the following changes:

i) extend Thursday hours to 7pm with Fridays to close at 6pm.

ii) approves $10,000 of locally driven initiative funds to top up this service so that the library opening hours are extended by an extra 1 hour on Sundays.

d) note:

i) supporting material for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 (Attachment D), including 10 year local activity budgets and 10 year local performance targets;

ii) local activity budgets have been updated to reflect final budget decisions made by the governing body on 8 May 2015, budget adjustments arising from new information (including the setup of a central risk fund for capital projects) and the allocation of central costs;

iii) if there are outstanding (not yet agreed) matters in the local board agreement, the local board should include an explanation of these matters in the Chair’s message at the front of the local board agreement;

iv) that the resolutions of this meeting will be reported back to the governing body when it meets to adopt the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 on 25 June 2015

e) agree that the Chair be delegated authority to make any final minor changes to the above.

Comments

10. For each financial year, Auckland Council must have a local board agreement between the governing body and the local board, for each local board area.

11. Every three years a local board plan is developed to inform the long-term plan (and associated local board agreements) which outlines priorities, budgets and intended levels of service over a ten year period.

12. Between January and March this year, council consulted on proposed content for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025. Local boards then held discussions with the governing body on local feedback, common issues and local priorities prior to budget decisions being made on 8 May 2015.

13. Local boards are now considering local content for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 which includes a local board agreement, a message from the chair and local board advocacy (Attachment A).

14, Local boards have also developed a Local Fees and Charges Schedules for 2015/2016 in alignment to agreed local activity budgets (Attachment B)

15. Library opening hours for 2015/2016 for this local board area are outlined in Attachment C.

16. Local boards are also agreeing allocation of locally driven initiative funding to projects and services, including whether to top up additional library opening hours.

17. Other supporting material associated with the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 includes 10 year local activity capital expenditure budgets and 10 year local performance targets (Attachment D). This material does not form part of a local board agreement, but is incorporated in Volume 2 of the Long-term Plan 2015-2025, albeit at a higher programme level for budgets. Local boards are requested to note this information.

18. On 25 June 2015, the governing body will meet to adopt Auckland Council’s Long-term Plan 2015-2025 including 21 local board agreements and associated performance targets and budgets.

Consideration

Local Board views and implications

19. This report seeks adoption from the local board on its content for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 and other associated material. Engagement with the community, including consultation, and a number of workshops and meetings have been held by the local board and with the governing body to finalise their local board agreement.

Māori impact statement

20. Many local board decisions are of importance to Maori and there is a need to continue to build relationships between local boards and relevant Iwi. The local board agreement is based on the local board plan and the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 which have both been developed through engagement with the community, including Maori.

Implementation

21. The resolutions of this meeting will be reported to the governing body on 25 June 2015, when it meets to adopt the Long-term Plan 2015-2025.

22. The timeline to develop and produce the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 document is tight. It is possible that minor changes may need to be made to the attachments before the annual plan is adopted, such as correction of any errors identified and minor wording changes. Staff therefore recommends that the local board delegates authority to the Local Board Chair to make final changes if necessary.

Attachments

No.	Title	Page
a View	Local Board Agreement 2015/2016	11
b View	Local Fees and Charges Schedule 2015/2016	27
c View	Proposed Library Opening Hours 2015/2016	33
d View	Long-term Plan 2015-2025 Supporting Material	35

Signatories

Authors

Kate Marsh - Financial Planning Manager - Local Boards

Authorisers

Karen Lyons - Manager Local Board Services

Phil Wilson - Governance Director

Puketāpapa Local Board

10 June 2015

Sportsfield Charges

File No.: CP2015/10340

Purpose

1. This report sets out the history and framework behind the application of sportsfield charges in the central area of Auckland City and provides options to the relevant Local Boards with regard to maintaining, modifying or dropping charges from July 2015.

Executive Summary

2. Prior to the formation of Auckland Council, two basic approaches were practiced by legacy councils in relation to sportfield charges.

3. Rodney, North Shore, Manukau, Waitākere, Papakura and Franklin Councils all provided sportsfields at no cost to the user. Auckland City Council by contrast was the one legacy authority that imposed charges for use of fields by senior teams (junior teams have never been charged for the use of sportsfields).

4. With the forming of the Auckland Council in 2010 Local Boards were given delegated authority to set local charges / fees for community facilities, with the status quo being maintained in terms of the continued application of sportsfield charges in the relevant board areas (Albert Eden, Maungakiekie Tāmaki, Orākei, Puketāpapa, Waitematā and Waiheke).

5. As part of the process to identify potential park savings, the concept of applying field charges in areas where no charges had previously been applied was put forward for consideration as part of the 2015-2025 Long Term Plan process. Offsetting savings by raising revenue through the application of sportsfield charges across the city was not however supported.

6. This report provides the relevant local boards an opportunity to review the current practice and put forward recommendations to the Governing Body on the changes, if any, they would like applied to the current practice.

Recommendation/s

That the Puketāpapa Local Board:

a) make a decision as to whether sportsfield charges currently applied in their board area are:

i) retained in their current form

ii) increased or decreased at specified rates

iii) removed completely.

b) Identify, should a reduction or removal of charges be supported, the means by which the budget shortfall will be covered:

i) Locally Driven Initiatives (LDI) Fund

ii) via a request to the governing body and considered through the 2016/2017 Annual Plan or earlier if possible.

c) support the position that, while a review of sportsfield charges in the central area is undertaken, no inflation linked increases in the sportsfield charges is supported for the 2015/2016 financial year. Fees will therefore remain at the 2014/2015 level (as per attached 2015/2016 Fees and Charges Schedule).

Comments

7. The sportsfield charges applied in the central area of Auckland City (Albert Eden, Maungakiekie Tāmaki, Orākei, Puketāpapa, Waitematā and Waiheke) have been applied for a number of years and constitute a nominal fee in terms of recouping costs for maintaining fields (ie it represents less than 8% of the maintenance costs).

8. With the formation of Auckland Council there were some local board boundary changes, which resulted in reserves where charges had been applied, being moved into board areas where charges had never been applied. These reserves are:

· Seaside Park (Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board area)

· Murphy Park (Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board area)

· Sturges Park (Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board area)

· Avondale Racecourse (Whau Local Board area)

· Riversdale Reserve (Whau Local Board area)

· Eastdale Reserve (Whau Local Board area)

· Blockhouse Bay Reserve (Whau Local Board area)

· Valonia Reserve (Whau Local Board area).

9. In order to ensure a consistent approach within the two relevant board areas, the charges previously applied to the use of sportsfields in these reserves were dropped with the formation of Auckland Council.

10. The table below sets out field charges for the three main winter codes plus fees for casual and tournament use. The seasonal fee is charged to the codes for Saturday afternoon competition play (junior competition generally takes up morning play) at the weekend and covers the use of the field for a whole season (fees and charges schedule attached).

11. Sportsfield charges for the three main winter codes (casual and competition games)

SPORT	CASUAL	Prepaid	TOURNAMENT	SEASONAL
	$ PER GAME	Casual	$ PER GAME	$ PER FIELD
LEAGUE	$ 58.00	$ 45.50	$ 29.50	$ 721.00
RUGBY	$ 67.00	$ 55.00	$ 33.50	$ 832.00
SOCCER	$ 49.50	$ 39.50	$ 25.00	$ 611.00

12. Irrespective of the code, clubs booking a lit field for two nights of training per week over a whole season are charged a fixed fee of $267. Priority is given to ensuring competition games go ahead at the weekend and the need for closing fields due to inclement weather therefore mainly impacts on midweek training. Rather than organising reimbursements, the training fees have been set at a relatively low level in order to reflect this likelihood. The practice fee does not include the cost of lights. If lights are used by clubs in the central area, an extra charge of $1.10 per lamp per hour applies.

13. Each year the charges for fields and lights have been raised roughly with the rate of inflation and the forecast income generated by the six relevant Local Boards in 2014/2015 was $263,284. However, these levels will not be achieved and the budget is revised down for 2015/2016.

14. No field charges are applied to juniors (17 yrs and under) and Rugby and League charge a standard affiliation fee to clubs, which is determined by the number of teams that a club has enrolled, rather than the area the club are located in. For these codes the regional inequity with regard to field charges therefore only applies to clubs booking fields for training rather than games organised by the codes at weekends. However, Auckland Football Federation, while applying a standard enrolment fee per team, also pass extra ground charges and referee fees, on to the club it pertains to. Soccer clubs in the relevant central board areas therefore pay higher fees to their parent body. Auckland Cricket adopts a similar practice.

15. Aside from the issue of equitability of charges being applied in some areas but not others, there are pros and cons related to field charges.

The pros include:

· Charges discourage users from making bookings that are ‘tentative’ and not actually utilised

· Ability for council to generate some income for the provision of sporting facilities that are costly to maintain and noting that other codes using courts and hockey turfs do not receive this level of subsidy from council

· Council has an accurate record of actual use levels and can therefore utilize the fields to their maximum capacity.

16. The cons include:

· Charges encourage some clubs not to book fields because of the costs entailed when making a formal booking

· Puts an additional financial burden on clubs that are run on a shoe string budget and that rely on the good will of volunteers

· Sport plays an important role in creating a sense of community with charges potentially excluding some sectors of the community

· Sport plays an important role in growing healthy communities and charges for field access that are passed onto members could be prohibitive for some families.

17. The first post 2010 report in which the issue of charges was highlighted to local boards was tabled in June 2011 and identified the issue as follows:

Sports field user charges are still applicable to the former Auckland City Council area. These nominal charges provide a level of cost recovery of around 8% of the cost of providing sportsfields. The charges have also assisted in providing robustness and integrity to the booking system, and have helped to deter block ookings of fields which have not been used.

18. The Sports Field Capacity Development (SFCD) local board workshops carried out in 2012 canvassed the concept of introducing regional sportsfield fees where they weren’t already being applied. The general feedback indicated there was no support for this concept.

19. There are a number of different approaches that could be taken by the boards with regards to fees and which could cover one of the following scenarios:

· retain charges at their current rates

· change charges by increasing or decreasing current rates

· remove charges.

20. Any change to current practice could be implemented through the 2016/2017 annual plan process or implemented in 2015/2016 by addressing the shortfall (assuming boards are looking to cut or remove charges) through LDI funding or through making savings in other parts of council.

21. While a review of sportsfield charges in the central area is undertaken it has been suggested no inflation related increase be applied to the 2015/2016 financial year. Fees could therefore remain at 2014/2015 levels (as per 2015/2016 Fees and Charges Schedules).

Consideration

Local Board views and implications

22. On 12 May 2015 the Chairs of the Albert Eden, Orākei and Waitematā Local Boards presented to the Parks, Recreation and Sport Committee and requested that the inequity in relation to sportsfield charges (which only apply in the central area) be reviewed as it disadvantages sports clubs in the central area (affecting six local boards). The PRS Committee asked for a report to the Finance Committee.

Māori impact statement

23. The Maunga Authority is currently reviewing fees for activities on the Tūpuna Maunga. The Authority recognises that the sportsfields on the Tūpuna Maunga currently play a critical role in the supply of sportsfield playing hours in the Auckland region and that they are well used, with many having clubs which have had a long association with the Tūpuna Maunga domiciled next to the fields. It is proposing to remove the sportsfield charges on Ōwairaka/Te Ahi-kā-a-Rakataura/Mt Albert and Ōtāhuhu/Mt Richmond to create a consistent approach across the network of Tūpuna Maunga and to remove one of the barriers to groups wanting to utilise these fields. The Maunga Authority is currently seeking feedback from groups impacted by the fees review and is likely to adopt the new fees schedule in July 2015.

Implementation

24. A board’s ability to generate income from local fees and charges are reflected in baseline revenue and expenditure levels determined by the governing body. While local boards therefore have responsibility for reviewing, setting and adopting fees and charges each year, any reduction to baseline budgets must be balanced through alternative means of funding.

25. Once the views of the six relevant boards have been gathered, a report will be submitted to the Finance Committee.

26. If there is a decision to drop charges this could be given effect immediately or delivered through the 2016/2017 annual plan process.

Attachments

No.	Title	Page
a View	Sportsfield Charges Applicable from 1 July 2015 (applying to former Auckland City Council area only)	49

Signatories

Authors

David Barker - Team Leader Parks Specialists and Programmes

Authorisers

Ian Maxwell - General Manager Parks, Sports and Recreation

Victoria Villaraza - Relationship Manager

Chairperson	Julie Fairey
Deputy Chairperson	Harry Doig
Members	David Holm
	Ella Kumar
	Nigel Turnbull
	Michael Wood