Council funds prolong lifeguard season

Waipa mayor Jim Mylchreest committed $10,000 following the desperate request for more funds from Surf Life Saving Northern Region. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Waipa District Council has helped stretch the Waikato patrolled lifeguard season after contributing $10,000 to the service after Hamilton City Council pulled all of its funding.

On its Facebook page last week, the Trust Waikato Raglan Surf Lifesaving Facebook posted that its regional lifeguard season had been reduced to just five weeks from the planned 11 due to the Hamilton City Council cutting all of its funding, leaving it with a $41,000 shortfall.

It means regional weekday patrols will start on December 21 and run until January 22.

But Waipa mayor Jim Mylchreest today announced he would use his emergency Mayoral Relief Fund to provide urgent help for local surf lifesavers.

Mr Mylchreest committed $10,000 following the desperate request for more funds from Surf Life Saving Northern Region to provide lifeguard cover at Ngarunui Beach at Raglan and Sunset Beach at Port Waikato this summer.

That would add another two weeks of weekday lifeguard duty, he said.

"Last year Raglan lifesavers dealt with 177 incidents or rescues with another 68 recorded at Sunset Beach," he said.

"Already there has been one drowning at Ngaranui beach. It's feared that, without paid lifeguards on patrol during the week, more lives will be at risk."

Mr Mylchreest said his council recognised many Waipa residents used the west coast beaches and that Waipa needed to do its part. He was also aware of volunteer lifeguards from Waipa who regularly patrolled at Raglan in the weekends when no paid guards were on duty.

Mr Mylchreest has urged other local councils to take decisive action, fast, to make up the remaining funding shortfall.

Waikato District Council and Waikato Regional Council already contribute to the surf lifesaving service, he said.

"I don't think there's any doubt that this service is critical to our wider community and that it needs to be funded in a co-ordinated way. We shouldn't have an organisation that relies heavily on volunteers to save people's lives coming to us absolutely desperate just weeks before Christmas."

Mr Mylchreest said he would push for a far more co-ordinated approach to the issue well before the next summer season and said this would be supported by the Waikato Mayoral Forum.

In a statement, Deanne McManus-Emery, Hamilton City Council's community development manager said it had reduced, not completely pulled its funding.

However, that decision would not be reviewed until February, after the busy lifeguard season, when staff will look at the impact it has had on lifesaving operations.

"Hamilton City Council has historically, i.e over the last 15 years provided significant financial support to Surf Lifesaving Northern Region (SLSNR). That support grew over time from $5000 to $50,000 per annum.

"SLSNR's grant was reduced from $50,000 per annum to $38,000 for the three years between 2012 and 2015. That funding has always been allocated through council's annual plan process.

"In 2013-2014, SLSNR signalled the challenge it faced as the result of the council's funding reduction. At that point, there was a robust conversation between the council and SLSNR about Hamilton's role as a primary regional funder, specifically around the city's position as an inland urban area.

"We've worked with SLSNR to develop a regional funding approach to support their service in the greater Waikato area. That discussion is ongoing."