Viv Beck: Heart of the City chief executive defends spending on Auckland CBD Christmas tree

There's outrage among taxpayers over the projected cost of downtown Auckland's Christmas tree.

The Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance has raised concern about the 18 metre Komititanga Square tree, which reportedly costs $1.3 million.

The council is stumping up $800,000 for it, with Heart of the City and Precinct Properties covering the rest.

Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck says it's not being paid for out of general rates.

"The council is putting in a contribution of the city centre-targeted rate, which is paid for by city centre property owners, businesses and residents."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Together do for c Ellen.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Absolutely no marrow, isn't it. But unfortunately the Auckland rate
Payers Alliance is really not getting into the mood of
things and they're all barhambag at an enormous Christmas tree
that's going to go up in central Wellington at the
bottom of Central Auckland Sory at the bottom of Queen Street.
That's stressed about the thing costing one point two to
one point three million dollars, most of which comes from
the council. Heart of the city is also putting some
cash towards it, and the chief Executive Vi Becker's with us, Hey,

(00:29):
Viv Hello, Now Viv. I was all like, oh, you
know cost per year, it's fine, But then somebody sent
me a text for then they said, you are putting
in four hundred thousand and precing properties, you're putting in
four hundy. The Council's putting in four hundy and then
every year it's going to cost us four hundred thousand
to put the thing up and put take it down.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
No, I think no. And the first thing is council
is putting in a contribution of the City Center Targeted Rate,
which is paid for by city Center property owners, businesses
and residents. It's not being paid for out of general rates,
so the Auckland rate payer outside the city center is
not paying for this, but we'd love them to come
and enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
So this is money and.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
In terms of the operating cost so count what's happened
is that you might remember a bit of an outcry
when we retired cents for a few years ago. We
always said we would bring another significant attraction for Christmas
to the city center. It's been a bit of a long,
sad process for us because of COVID and a whole
lot of things you won't want to hear about that.
The reality is what's exciting about this is the partnership

(01:33):
with presint properties and councils support recognizing the importance of
rejuvenating the city center with the targeted rate contribution means
we can do something bigger, better, brighter. We're coming out
of ten years of construction, COVID, the worst impacts in
the country, all the stuff you know well about. We

(01:54):
are aspiring to be an international city and we want
to do something fabulous, and the operating cost Council has
said we'll support the first few years as a contribution
without heart of the city and precinct properties and then
you're on your own. So they are not contributing beyond
some initial obviously the share of the purchase, which you're right,

(02:15):
it does need to be considered over the term of
the investment. And look at Sandre lasted sixty years, so
we're not making a promise to have the tree for
sixty years. But the realist we want it to be
an enduring investment. We want kids to come and love
it and enjoy it for many, many years to come.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Okay, So how much does the tree actually cost one
point two for million, and how much is the putting
up and getting it down cost?

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, that varies a bit. It's not I haven't got
those exact figures in front of me, but the council
targeted rates share contributes towards what precinct and us are
putting in now and for at least the next year
or so, depending on how much it up exactly costing
on an ongoing basis, and we don't exactly know that yet,

(03:04):
but we're it'll be put up locally with local resources,
and we want it to be as streamlined as and
cost effective as possible.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Okay, Viv, thank you very much, appreciate your time. That's
Viv Beck, Heart of the City, chief executive. This was
the text, Heather. Only the purchase price of four hundred
thousand can be spread over ten years. The other four
hundred thousand is per year for putting it up and
putting it down. That's successive. Don't send me lies like
that because now look I gave the lie to Vivid.
Now we had to deal with the lie. At least
we shut the lie down. But be sure about your stuff.

(03:31):
A four hundred thousand put a tree up, mate, that's
a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
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