Council Fund Recognised At National Local Government Awards
The Awards celebrate programmes that demonstrate professional excellence and innovation in local government management.
Chief Executive Clive Manley said Council staff were proud to see the Fund recognised by their sector peers as a leading approach to local placemaking.
'Empowering Communities, Enhancing Lives' was developed to enable Community Boards to take a leading role in local placemaking within their rohe,' he said.
'The $500,000 contestable fund was made possible through the previous Labour Government's Better Off package, designed to support councils with the transition of water services to new entities while investing in community wellbeing.
Community Boards used the Fund to back projects that supported Ruapehu's environmental, social, cultural, and economic wellbeing - aligned with Council's goals for sustainable development and inclusive governance,' said Manley.
Executive Manager Community Development Pauline Welch said Council received over $2.5 million in applications - five times the amount available.
'Choosing what to fund was the hardest part. We received 34 applications and were able to support 15 projects,' she said.
'These included stream restoration, new playgrounds, trail upgrades, predator control, upgrades to a kōhanga and community halls, local events, equine learning programmes, assisted learning swimming lessons, funding for community art centre operations, the bronze Kaimanawa horse statue in Waiouru, and seed funding for the Raetihi Temepara restoration.
Together, these projects delivered environmental improvements, upgraded community facilities, promoted inclusive learning and recreation, celebrated local culture, and strengthened community connections across the district.
Council was pleased to be able to support some of the many hardworking, volunteer-based community groups and organisations that often struggle to access funding.
The success of the Fund shows just how far a relatively small investment can go when made available to those with a passion for their communities.
While this was a one-off fund, Council encourages any community group with a placemaking project to apply to the annual Community Development and Pride of Place Fund,' she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
15 hours ago
- RNZ News
Mayor takes responsibility for 'typo' that could have cost council $20m
New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom says the bungle could have been very costly. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin The mayor of New Plymouth has taken personal responsibility for a "typo" that could've cost his council $20 million in lost revenue. At a meeting last month council passed a resolution saying rates figures in its annual plan were inclusive of GST, when they were actually exclusive of it. It has had to quickly correct the error and apologise to ratepayers. The council met at a hastily-organised extraordinary meeting to iron out its mistake this week. Mayor Neil Holdom said the process to set rates was robust and compliant - but then the wheels fell off. "In preparing the final report for adoption a member of the team pasted the GST exclusive numbers into the final report where all fees and charges were confirmed. They should have included the GST inclusive numbers." The bungle could have been costly. "If somebody took the council to court to seeking a judicial review of rates or charges the court would've identified the schedule was incorrect and the GST component which is about $20 million would not have been legally chargeable." Acting council chief executive Sarah Downs admitted it was not a good look, but said there was ultimately no effect on rates, which were struck at 9.9 percent. "It was a typographical error, so we asked for council under Section 46 of the Legislation Act to correct that error and as a result it's not impacting any rates whatsoever." She was unsure how the mistake happened. "We're not quite clear, but the team are investigating how the error was made. There is a level of people saying the correct checks were not put in place, so we're busy in the process of making sure what extra checks do we need to do." Council staff were not the only people to miss the error - all 15 elected members overlooked it too. Councillor and mayoral aspirant Sam Bennett - who spoke at the extraordinary meeting - had been doing some soul searching. "As an elected member personally I was really disappointed in myself that that went under my filter, my radar and I'm thinking why did I miss that, why did not only I miss it but why did the 15 councillors who sit around the table miss something that's so significant." Councillor Max Brough - who was not shy about taking the council to task over its spending - also had eyes for the mayoral chains. He was less apologetic. "I don't know how you'd pick it up. I've been thinking about that since this came to light and unless you've sat down and forensically analysed it all I don't think you'd pick it up. "So, Audit New Zealand has done their job, audits kicked in and done its job. I'm pleased about that, but I'm sad they had to do that." Holdom was happy to eat some humble pie. "I wish to publicly apologise to the community for the administrative error. It is my responsibility as leader of council to ensure all information provided is accurate and measures are in place to test and verify that information and that standard has not been met in this case. "I wish to ensure the community that I take the matter very seriously and steps are being put in place to rectify the issue and ensure it does not happen again." This was not the first time a "typo" had landed the council in trouble. In 2015 , it printed about 2 million rubbish bags with the phone number of a local Thai restaurant on them - rather than its own. The bungle resulted in restaurant staff fielding a flood of calls about the bags rather than taking bookings and takeout orders. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
20 hours ago
- Scoop
Self-Service Kiosks Available For Quick And Easy Payments
Press Release – NPDC NPDCs Manager Customer and Communications Ben Kohlis says the self-payment kiosk will help residents get in and out quickly, without having to wait in line. NPDC is trialling self-service kiosks at its Civic Centre and Waitara Service Centre for customers on the go, to pay for Council services. Residents can now avoid the queues to pay for parking tickets, dog registrations, rates, building consents and other payments through the kiosk. NPDC's Manager Customer and Communications Ben Kohlis says the self-payment kiosk will help residents get in and out quickly, without having to wait in line. 'It's all about creating efficiency and giving our customers options,' said Ben. 'People can still chat to our front counter team, but when it gets busy and people don't have time to wait, the kiosk is another option to make payments as well as on our NPDC website.' The machine at the Civic Centre in Liardet Street has been in place for nine weeks, while the one in Waitara went live on Monday (30 June). The kiosks feature user-friendly touchscreen where customers can follow prompts and make payments using EFTPOS, debit or credit card. It is also accessible and wheelchair friendly. FAST FACTS NPDC's front counter desk have helped customers with about 12,500 payments in person over the last 12 months (Feb 2024 – Feb 2025). NPDC had 20,788 walk-ins to the front counter for the same period. The top three payment types to NPDC's front counter were rates, dog registrations and applications.
Scoop
21 hours ago
- Scoop
Self-Service Kiosks Available For Quick And Easy Payments
NPDC is trialling self-service kiosks at its Civic Centre and Waitara Service Centre for customers on the go, to pay for Council services. Residents can now avoid the queues to pay for parking tickets, dog registrations, rates, building consents and other payments through the kiosk. NPDC's Manager Customer and Communications Ben Kohlis says the self-payment kiosk will help residents get in and out quickly, without having to wait in line. 'It's all about creating efficiency and giving our customers options,' said Ben. 'People can still chat to our front counter team, but when it gets busy and people don't have time to wait, the kiosk is another option to make payments as well as on our NPDC website.' The machine at the Civic Centre in Liardet Street has been in place for nine weeks, while the one in Waitara went live on Monday (30 June). The kiosks feature user-friendly touchscreen where customers can follow prompts and make payments using EFTPOS, debit or credit card. It is also accessible and wheelchair friendly. FAST FACTS NPDC's front counter desk have helped customers with about 12,500 payments in person over the last 12 months (Feb 2024 - Feb 2025). NPDC had 20,788 walk-ins to the front counter for the same period. The top three payment types to NPDC's front counter were rates, dog registrations and applications.
