Tauranga's $1m toxic mould removal

Toxic black mould created chaos at Tauranga City Council. Photo/John Borren

This year's $1 million rates surplus will be used to offset most of the $1.37m costs to clean toxic mould from Tauranga City Council's civic buildings and re-locate staff into temporary offices.

Details of the financial burden imposed by the discovery of the mould after a staff member fell sick in December will be discussed by the council this week.

A report into Project Clean said that costs by the end of this financial year, June 30, were expected to reach $1.367m. Shifting staff into safe areas and leasing temporary office space will swallow $953,000, with consultants, testing and cleaning adding $252,000.

Project Clean was expected to cost an additional $1.2m over the next two years, based on what was already known. It would be 80 per cent funded from rates.

The report also recommended that council budget an additional $1m a year for 2015-16 and 2016-17 to fix leaky building issues. The money would come out of the building contingency reserve. Earthquake strengthening requirements will also likely be addressed while staff were working in rented offices. A report was being prepared on weather tightness and seismic issues.