Mayor defends ramp deal

The Napier council voted to buy the ramp for the same sum HB Sport Fishing Club owed the ANZ Bank. Photo / Paul Taylor

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton says his council's $271,000 purchase of Hawke's Bay Sport Fishing Club's boat ramp does not amount to it buying its own land - even though it leases the site to the club.

On Friday, the Napier City Council voted to buy the ramp for the same sum the club owes ANZ Bank through a loan and overdraft.

The deal includes the release of the loan guarantee ANZ has with the council.

The ramp and the HBSFC clubhouse are on reserve land leased from the council but Mr Dalton said the ramp was an "improvement" on the property and, as such, was owned by the club.

"The fact is they own the boat ramp and so we certainly are not buying something that is already ours," he said.

The club has struggled financially for a number of years and approached the council last month with an offer to sell a third-share of the boat ramp for $400,000.

Mr Dalton said the counter-proposal approved by the council last week was a "sensible middle ground" between doing nothing and agreeing to the club's initial request.

If the council had done nothing and the club had folded, the council would have been required, as guarantor, to repay ANZ.

"We've taken the debt off them. There's no reason at all why the Sports Fishing Club can't now continue on a reasonable commercial basis."

As the ramp's owner, the council is planning to spend up to $75,000 installing barrier arms to improve compliance with the payment of fees from boat owners who use the facility.

Club members will receive a concession on those fees.

"That will encourage people to join the fishing club and, at the end of the day, all this will be good for Hawke's Bay because we've found a way of keeping a good facility moving forward," Mr Dalton said.

Club president Alex Smith said yesterday he was still awaiting official confirmation of the council's decision which was required before the club could plan its next move.

"It [the council] has got a good asset for a cheap price that every other council in the country has already got," he said.

Councillor Annette Brosnan was the only member of the council to oppose the ramp purchase deal at last week's meeting.

She said the decision to buy out the loan guarantee amounted to a kind of ratepayer bailout for the club.