KEY POINTS:
The David Beckham fiasco will drag on to next year after the Auckland Regional Council made a last-minute decision yesterday not to hold a public briefing on the football event.
Chief executive Peter Winder was set to tell an open council meeting how much ratepayers' money had been lost and a press release was prepared when ARC chairman Mike Lee got councillors together and pulled the pin.
Last week, Mr Lee said the loss from the David Beckham-LA Galaxy football match would run to "hundreds of thousands of dollars" and promised an interim report outlining the key facts and figures for yesterday's council meeting.
He also sought advice from the Auditor-General about a full review, including an inquiry into the performance of people along the decision chain.
The event flopped after only 16,600 people turned up at Mt Smart Stadium on December 6. The council needed to sell 19,000 tickets at the 25,000-capacity ground to break even.
Yesterday, Mr Lee said he had received advice that it would be inappropriate to make any public comments about the event after the Auditor-General had agreed to undertake an independent review.
He would say only that the advice included legal advice and the Auditor-General was not involved.
"Due to the high level of public interest and the need for the public to have absolute confidence, an internal review would not cut it. Who better to do it than the Auditor-General?"
A spokeswoman for the Auditor-General said the terms of reference for the review were expected to be known by Christmas. Work on it would start in the new year.
Mr Lee repeated that losses from the event would be ringfenced from ratepayers and rates. The loss will go on the books of Mt Smart Stadium - owned by the ARC - which will be expected to trade its way out of the red.
Secrecy also surrounds Auckland City Council's $115,000 involvement, including $80,000 to bring the team to Auckland. It also paid $35,000 to help 6500 school children watch Beckham and the LA Galaxy at training.
The funding was approved in April at a "confidential" meeting of the events subcommittee made up of three Citizens and Ratepayers' councillors.
In exchange for contributing to the children's visit, the council got 15 corporate hospitality packages to the match, worth up to $500 each. Mayor John Banks and two C&R councillors were among those to benefit.
The council has refused to release a copy of the report approved by the events subcommittee, "because it contains information about other parties' funding of the event".
