Manurewa RSA could be sold to pay off debt

Manurewa RSA. Photo / Google Street View

A South Auckland RSA has brought in auditors and put an administrator on "garden leave" after major discrepancies were found in its finances.

The Manurewa Returned and Services Association is in the process of counting the final votes on whether to sell its clubrooms on Maich Rd amid claims it needs to address serious financial problems including concerns about servicing its bank loan.

A report to its members, posted on its Facebook page by its president Cliff McMahon this month, paints a dire picture of the club's finances.

He said an auditor and the RSA's accountancy firm Skipper Lay were now picking through the finances which had some "serious issues".

Their reports would uncover why its "financials have become 'inaccurate and unreliable' which included the need to put the administrator on 'garden leave' for part of the investigation". These would be released once the inquiries were completed.

BNZ also appeared to be "very nervous" about the RSA's trading situation and "maybe our ability to meet our loan commitments in the 2018 financial year", McMahon's report on Facebook said.

This year the Manurewa RSA asked its members whether it should sell its premises at 2-8 Maich Rd, near Manurewa's business district. Preliminary votes indicated 141 members supported a sale while 32 did not.

McMahon is on leave, but acting president Graham Dolan said the final results and therefore decision about the property sale would be revealed at a committee meeting after April 26. A meeting date had not been set.

Dolan declined to answer questions about the club's finances and issues raised.

"We won't be doing anything until after Poppy Day or Anzac Day. This has all come at a very bad time so I'm not prepared to say anything in the meantime anyway."

The club is already setting up a trust for the proceeds of any sale of the property, according to the report, and has had talks with the Manurewa and Weymouth Cosmopolitan Club about using its facilities.

Long-term Manurewa RSA member and former executive committee member Graeme Sherlock said the sale was a fait accompli even though the majority of club members opposed the idea of closing it.

He said members were being kept largely in the dark, but the groups who used it were already being told the club would be closed on May 17 and the building would be sold.

"There's a notice up in the club saying the AGM is in June so where the hell are they going to have it? There's nothing in writing to say that we are going up to the Weymouth Cossie, that's hearsay through other committee members."

Manurewa RSA, formed in 1945, has more than 1800 members.

The Weymouth Cosmopolitan and Sports Club could not be reached for comment last night.

The Manurewa RSA is one of several RSAs nationwide to hit financial hardship and sell their buildings in the past few years as they struggle with declining membership.

The Browns Bay RSA sold its Bute Rd clubrooms last July for $4.6 million and moved to the Browns Bay Bowling Club, Whangarei RSA sold its Rust Ave premises for $3.4m in December and Rotorua RSA put its Haupapa St building on the market back in 2015.

Last June the Hibiscus Coast RSA put the 5200sq m section beside its clubrooms in Stanmore Bay up for sale so it could pay off debt, refurbish and attract new members.