Rotorua Lakes Council's Tatau Tatau magazine, costs revealed

Tatau Tatau magazine is put out by Rotorua Lakes Council. Photo / Stephen Parker

Rotorua Lakes Council has spent nearly $72,000 printing and distributing six editions of its magazine Tatau Tatau.

A local resident says rates should not be spent on what she describes as a "luxury item" but the council justifies the spending, saying the magazine has largely replaced other ways of informing the district's residents.

Information provided to a resident through a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request and passed on to the Rotorua Daily Post outlines the cost of printing and distributing the magazine, as well as distribution numbers.

The council spent $71,998.74 on the six editions issued between September 2017 and August 2018.

Each of the editions had 30,000 copies printed and distribution was to between 26,000 and 27,000 properties.

As well as deliveries to homes, copies were also provided to local organisations and businesses, given out at events and available online.

In a written response to further questions from the Rotorua Daily Post, the council's strategy group manager Jean-Paul Gaston said the magazine was one of the ways the council had tried to increase community engagement and the reach of the council's information over the past few years.

"To try and reach the approximately 72,000 people now living in our district, council has introduced some new channels including livestreaming of meetings, a dedicated online consultation tool, a weekly e-pānui and the Tatau Tatau magazine.

"The magazine provides a lens into the community as well as covering council matters, projects and collaborations and sharing information about upcoming events."

Gaston said the magazine had largely replaced the council's use of traditional print media.

He said creating the magazine was "business as usual for the communications team who take a team approach to producing it".

"Council continues to monitor and review how it communicates with the community and will continue to assess opportunities and seek new channels and new ways to reach residents."

The council had not taken on additional staff to produce the magazine and did not record time spent producing it. The council would not disclose the earnings of staff members involved in the production of the magazine, saying they were confidential.

Instead, it referred to another LGOIMA request that showed there was $428,296.91 budgeted for 5.5 full-time equivalent staff who work in strategic communications in the 2017/18 financial year.

Resident Tracey McLeod, who is a member of the Rotorua District Residents and Ratepayers group, sent the information request.

She said the magazine was a "luxury item" but she read them all.

"I think if I wasn't interested in this stuff, I may not look at it.

"If you weren't a ratepayer, you may not be interested."

McLeod said a lot of the content in the magazine was available online before its issue.

"I don't think our rates should go towards the publication because I think it's the council trying to convince the ratepayer of the job they are doing."

The cost of Tatau Tatau
- $10,170.71 in September 2017: $7342.51 (printing), $2828.20 (distribution)
- $12,493.28 in November 2017: $10,022.52 (printing), $2470.76 (distribution)
- $12,171.25 in February 2018: $9947.52 (printing), $2223.73 (distribution)
- $12,508.52 in March 2018: $9947.52 (printing), $2561 (distribution)
- $12,508.52 in April 2018: $9947.52 (printing), $2561 (distribution)
- $12,146.46 in August 2018: $9557.84 (printing), $2588.62 (distribution)