Council to foot $80k bill for new carpet

Councillors are expected to soon approve a plan to spend $80,000 on new carpet for the district council building.

Carpetbaggers may be thin on the ground at Masterton District Council but people bagging up old carpets may soon be a common sight.

Councillors are expected to soon approve a plan to outlay up to $80,000 to put new carpet through sections of the district council building, thereby bringing forward budgeted expenditure for flooring by a year.

A detailed investigation of the carpeting throughout the building has produced three categories - areas that need urgent replacement carpet, "nice to do" areas and areas that are okay as they are, for now.

According to finance manager David Paris high traffic areas such as hallways and doorways are "close to being threadbare".

Attempts have been made over several years to patch and reuse carpet mostly in public areas.

Mr Paris said while this has mostly been successful, in some cases it had not.

"There are places where re-used carpet with underlay has bubbled badly and is now a trip hazard."

He said professional advice was that re-stretching carpet in office areas was not a good, cost effective or long-term option.

In all it is estimated 710sq m of carpet needs replacing and it would be "nice to do" a further 275sq m.

Depending on carpeting options the council decides on, the urgent replacements would cost between $46,000 and $57,000 but adding in the "nice to do" category would extend those estimates to between $64,000 and $80,000.

There is a budget provision in the 2015/2016 section of the council's Long Term Plan for carpet replacement of $84,763 but the councillors are being asked to bring replacement forward by a year.

In most of the offices, carpets date back to the building's refurbishment in 1986.