Public to have Opera House say

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule says the future of the Hawke's Bay Opera House will be known by next year. Photo / File

The future of the Hawke's Bay Opera House will be known by February, Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule has reported.

While Mr Yule could not shed light on exactly when the building would again be open to the public, he said there would be a "clear view" as to what the options were for its re-opening.

"So we are going to consult with the public on all the options for opening the opera house and the costs," he said.

"That is going to all be put out there in a completely transparent manner.

"We have got an independent group working on it now."

The council has already set aside $20million for the refurbishment of the opera house area, not just the building.

Mr Yule imagined the re-opening would be another 18 months on from February.

"The strengthening of it is a big issue in itself."

The council was looking at opportunities beyond just a quick fix for the buildings.

It wanted to "optimise" the opportunity rather than "just a straight cost of whacking some steel on it".

That was what was taking the time, Mr Yule said.

The Heritage 1 civic buildings were once council chambers.

Mr Yule dismissed claims that the recent impairment variation of $3,738,000 was anything to worry about.

He said "impairment" was an accounting term used when an asset could not be used.

According to Investopedia, impairment can be used in many contexts and that whatever the situation, it was bad for the company.

"If the sum of all estimated future cash flows is less than the carrying value of the asset, then the asset would be considered impaired and would have to be written down to its fair value," according to the accounting reference.

However: "Once an asset is written down, it may only be written back up under very few circumstances."

It appears that the opera house would be one of those circumstances, with Mr Yule saying that the building's value would be restored once the work that needed to be done to it was completed.

"It has been taken off our books right now but as soon as we do something it will be restored instantly," he said.

"It is worth nothing in the state that it can't be used, but as soon as we have done our thing all that value will simply be restored."