KEY POINTS:
Eleven community organisations, from opera to water safety, have been picked as beneficiaries of a proposed compulsory Auckland region-wide levy of ratepayers.
Such a levy will need legislation along the lines of that which has enabled the Museum of Transport and Technology to be funded by ratepayers since 2000. Auckland City Council is promoting the bill, which is to be called the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill 2006.
The council's general manager of arts, community and recreation, Jill McPherson, said yesterday the bill was being drafted with the intention of being forwarded to Parliament in January and being passed next year.
The first funding could be available to amenities in the council rates year starting on July 1, 2008.
An independent group of 10 citizens, chaired by businessman and arts patron Robin Congreve, chose the 11 organisations from 13 nominations.
He said the main criterion for selection was that the "amenity should be expected to be found in a world-class city and that the amenity itself should uniquely contribute to this".
The Auckland City Council's arts, culture and recreation committee will today receive the independent assessment group's recommendations.
The organisations are: Auckland Festival, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Auckland Theatre Company, NBR NZ Opera, Auckland Regional Helicopter Trust, Auckland Zoo, New Zealand National Maritime Museum, Coastguard Northern Region, Surf Life Saving Northern Region, Watersafe Auckland and the Stardome Observatory.
Steve Johns of Surf Life Saving Northern Region was appointed spokesman for the 11 organisations and said last night: "If the bill is passed, it will offer certainty about funding and sustainability.
"For all the not-for-profit organisations who live from year to year and go around cap in hand, it will mean we can do long-term planning, something which makes us better organisations."
However, controversially, the independent group has rejected The Edge (Aotea Centre) and Westwave, which is an international standard pool and recreation facility provided by the Waitakere City Council. A disappointed The Edge chief executive Greg Innes said last night he had just learned of the recommendation.
Mr Innes said exclusion could affect plans to expand arts outreach programmes into the region's towns, and boosting cultural events.
Last year The Edge received $3.7 million from Auckland City Council, drew 450,000 people and had 1.3 million visitors. It missed out because its conference and performing arts offerings were deemed otherwise available in the region and it was required to be funded by Auckland City Council.
Waitakere City Council finance chairman Janet Clews said she was shocked by the rejection of Westwave, which was built in Henderson for the 1990 Commonwealth Games and has since been upgraded and expanded. "It doesn't seem fair to me," she said.
Dr McPherson said the proposal was for money to be collected by the seven councils in the rates bill - the same as they did for the levy for the Museum of Transport and Technology and the War Memorial Museum.
Councils would vote representatives on to an electoral college who would agree on what the levy would be, and would appoint members on to a funding board who would consider all the organisations' business plans.
Dr McPherson said it was proposed to put a cap on the levy and it would only change through the councils' growth in population and land values.
North Shore City councillors were told last month the cost to ratepayers could be up to 3 per cent.
WHAT THEY DO
* NBR NZ Opera: Performs nationally, 16,500 saw three Auckland operas.
* Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust: 800 patients a year.
* NZ National Maritime Museum: 106,500 visitors a year.
* Stardome Observatory: 54,000 visitors a year.
* Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra: 400,000 see performances a year.
* Auckland Theatre Company: 75,000 see performances a year.
* Auckland Festival: 266,000 participate.
* Surf Life Saving Northern Region: 810 rescues last summer.
* Auckland Zoo: 587,000 visitors.
* Watersafe Auckland: Co-ordinates water-safety groups.
* Coastguard Northern Region: 25 units and 1000 volunteers.
