No funding for Hamilton i-Site and destination playgrounds under mayor's proposal

Hamilton's lake playground will get no further investment in the next year under the city's mayor's proposed budget. Photo / Google

Hamilton may lose $47m worth of buildings for a park but gain a revamped Garden Place, according to sneak preview of mayor Andrew King's proposed budget.

Hamilton councillor Angela O'Leary has revealed some of the key projects in the Long Term Plan document before it went online today.

Under the proposals, $47m would be spent buying a block of buildings between Victoria on the River and Embassy Park to make the park bigger, as revealed by the Herald last week. And $3.9m would be spent co-funding a proposal by property owners to revamp Garden Place to include car parks.

King's proposed projects come at the cost of Hamilton Zoo, the award-winning Waiwhakareke Heritage Park, turning suburban libraries into community hubs and the River Plan, now 18 months into development, none of which get any investment. Heritage building St Peters Hall on Victoria St would also be put up for sale.

King also wants to close the Hamilton i-Site, stop building destination playgrounds and no longer print the council's newsletter City News. There would be no more money for the Frankton and Hamilton East Community Plans, which are aimed at creating distinctive suburban villages.

The plan does, however, include $20 million for a new library and community hub in Rototuna, $15.2m in renewal of library assets and $1.1m for safety improvements. A further $3m had been earmarked for developing the smaller neighbourhood playgrounds.

The cost of the first-term mayor's projects, which appear to focus on development, would require a 15.5 per cent rate increase. The figure has dropped 1 per cent from when King first signalled his proposal two weeks ago. At the time, most councillors canvassed said they would not support such an increase.