Decision made on Tauranga museum

Councillors at Tauranga Council Chambers today discussing options for a Tauranga museum. Photo/Andrew Warner

A $55m museum at Cliff Rd and a $30m library on Willow St - that's the decision of a council committee this afternoon.

But there's a catch: the council contribution to the museum would be capped at $15m - plus $5.56m for new roads and parking and the like - with the rest of the funding to be raised from central government, other funding agencies and sponsors.

The committee voted seven to one - Gail McIntosh - in favour of the resolution put forward by city transformation committee chairman Larry Baldock.

The library decision was evenly split, with Baldock making the deciding vote in favour of a building a new central library.

As it stood, the council would wear the bulk of the cost to build the library - $25m - with the remaining $5m to come from other funders.

The committee's decision will go before the full council on December 19. From there the funding will be put into the Long Term Plan for 2018-28, which will go out for public consultation early next year.

During the committee's discussion Mayor Greg Brownless asked if it was necessary for the committee to make a site decision in the meeting or whether they could just set a budget.

"It's difficult because you're balancing cost, value for money, potential for revenue, keeping everybody happy – it's a big decision," he said.

Heart of the City programme director Adele Hadfield said the council should be clear with the community about what they were being asked to fund.

She recommended the council choose a preference but also present the community with the other options they considered.

Infrastructure manager Christine Jones said the council had to put specific dollar numbers in the council's Long Term Plan 2018-28, which must be audited, but could talk about other options in the text of the plan.