John MacDonald: Council cathedral payment needs to be stopped

If you ever needed proof that local councils are great at throwing other people's money around, here it is.

Because, even though the reinstatement work on the Anglican cathedral in Cathedral Square could come to a standstill in just a matter of weeks because of money problems, the Christchurch City Council is handing over $7 million. Which beggars belief, doesn’t it?

This is the second payment to make up the $10 million the council pledged back in 2017. The council paid $3 million last December and this $7 million makes up the balance.

Apparently, as it’s being reported today, this $7 million was on the proviso of certain conditions being met. We don’t know what they are. But, even if they have been met, these are provisos that were agreed on seven years ago, at a time when the project wasn’t at such risk of falling over. Like it is now. It could be just weeks away from happening.

That’s why I’m finding the council’s position that it’s going to press-on and hand over the $7 million as “a sign of good faith”, hard to accept. For a couple of reasons.

First: the council is borrowing to pay the money to the cathedral project and is levying ratepayers to repay the loan. So, as soon as the money goes to the church, we’re paying interest.

The second reason: is I feel as if the reinstatement project is holding the city to ransom over the money problems they’re dealing with.

Somewhere around $100 million has been spent so far. But the job is bigger than first thought and, it was revealed in April, the project needed to find an extra $114 million - taking the overall cost to $248 million.

To the church’s credit, in June it agreed to scale-back on some of the work which reduced the funding gap from $114 million to between $75 million and $85 million.

But here’s why I feel we’re being held to ransom. Back in April, the project people said that, if the first $30 million of that $114 million couldn’t be found by September - next month - then work would stop completely and the cathedral would be mothballed indefinitely.

So the Council, in its wisdom, thinks that by handing over the $7 million now, it will go some way towards them getting the $30 million they need by next month to keep going.

Which - if the council was correct - would mean that, in the four months since the money crisis was revealed in April, the project has managed to raise $23 million.

I would be astounded if they’ve managed to do that. Absolutely astounded.

What’s more, the church and the reinstatement people are refusing to say whether or not they have actually managed to find extra money from somewhere and, if they have, how much,

Even council staff acknowledge the risk. In a report for concillors they say: "There is a risk that the granted funds will not allow for the completion of the cathedral reinstatement project.”

They say deferring the payment - which is what they should do - would give the council more certainty. But they also say that, if the council doesn’t hand over the money, it could lead to a loss of momentum and the work stopping.

The Government has already put $25 million into the cathedral, and it’s being asked to provide more taxpayer money.

That’s yet to be considered by Cabinet but Winston Peters has already said that he’d support the Government giving more money to prevent the reinstatement being mothballed.

But remember, he’s not the Finance Minister - and we know how Finance Minister Nicola Willis doesn’t like cost blow-outs.

And it’s not as if Winston Peters is negotiating a coalition agreement where he could make more Cathedral funding one of his non-negotiables. So don’t bet the house on that one happening.

Another reason why I feel like the cathedral people are holding us to ransom over this, is the way in which they’ve been so secretive about the finances right up until the last minute.

And it's

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
If you ever, if you ever needed proof that local
councils are great at throwing other people's money around, well
I've got it for you today. Because even though the
reinstatement work on the Anglican Cathedral and Cathedral Square could
come to a standstill in just a matter of weeks
because of money problems, despite all that, the christi At

(00:35):
City Council is handing over seven million dollars, which beggars believe,
doesn't it. This is the second payment to make up
the ten million the council pledged back in the day
back in twenty seventeen. It was they paid three million
of it last December and the seven million dollar makes
up the balance now. Apparently, as it's been reported today,

(00:59):
this seven million dollars is on the proviso of certain
conditions being met. We don't know what they are, but
even if they had been met, whatever they are, these
are provisos that were agreed on seven years ago, at
a time when the project wasn't at such risk of
falling over like it is now. It could be just

(01:20):
weeks away from happening. And that's why I'm finding the
council's position that it's going to press on and hand
over the seven million bucks as a sign of good faith.
That's what they're saying as a sign of good faith.
I find that very hard to accept, and for a
couple of reasons. First, the council's borrowing to pay the

(01:41):
money to the cathedral project and as levying ratepayers to
repay the loan, so as soon as the money goes
to the church, we're paying interest. Second reason, there might
be more than that. But second reason, I feel as
if the reinstatement project is holding the city to ransom
over the money problems that they're dealing with. I mean,
you remember what happened back in April when we found

(02:04):
out that the projects and financial strife they be about
to come to a complete standstill. Remember that I said
we have to we might have to mothball it by
August September. So somewhere around one hundred million bucks has
been spent so far. But the job, of course is
burger than first thought, and it was revealed in April
that the project needed to find an extra one hundred

(02:25):
and fourteen million dollars taken the total cost to two
hundred and forty eight million, lots of numbers I know
now to the Church's credit in June. So since that
announcement between then and now, it was in June that
the church agreed to scale back on some of the work,
which reduced the funding gap from one hundred and fourteen

(02:45):
million to somewhere between seventy five and eighty five million.
But here's why I feel that we're being held to ransom.
Back in April, the project people they said that if
the first thirty mil of that money they they don't
have couldn't be found by September, so next month. If

(03:06):
thirty million dollars couldn't be found by then, then work
would stop completely and the cathedral would be mothballed indefinitely.
So the Council, in its wisdom thinks by handing over
the seven million now, it'll go some way towards them
getting the thirty million that they need by next month
to keep going, which, if the Council was correct, would

(03:26):
mean that in the four months since the money crisis
was revealed in April, it would mean the project has
managed to raise twenty three million bucks. I would be
astounded if they've managed to do that, absolutely astounded if
they have managed to raise twenty three million dollars. What's more,
the church and the reinstatement people are refusing to say
whether or not they have actually managed to find extra

(03:50):
money from somewhere, from anywhere, and if they have how
much see closed Shop. And even council staff acknowledge the risk.
In this report that's been written for councilors, they say, quote,
there is a risk that the granted funds will not
allow for the completion of the cathedral reinstatement project. Not
allowed for it, they say, deferring the payment, which is

(04:14):
what they should do. They say deferring the payment would
give the council more certainty. But then they say, on
the other hand, if the council doesn't hand over the money,
it could lead to a loss of momentum and the
work stopping. Well, so what the government's already put twenty
five mili into the cathedral. It's being asked to provide
more taxpayers money that's yet to be considered by Cabinet.

(04:35):
But remember Winston Peters has already said that he would
support the government giving more money to prevent the cathedral
being mothballed. But let's remember he is not the Finance minister,
and we know how Finance Minister Nikola Willis doesn't like
cost blowouts. It's also not as if Winston Peters is
negotiating a coalition agreement where he could make cathedral funding
one of his non negotiables. So don't bet the house

(04:58):
on the cathedral getting more government money. And another reason
why I feel like the cathedral people are holding us
to ransom over this is the way in which the
been so secretive right up until the last minute, which
was back in April, when they had no option but
to reveal how dire things were. And it's not just
me saying that, by the way that they're all closed shop.
I remember city councilors saying at various points that they

(05:19):
had expected or would like a bit more transparency on
the finances. But despite all that, despite all that, they're
giving seven million dollars, even though they've got no idea
whether the project will continue beyond next month or not.

(05:40):
And I think that's nuts.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
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