Philippa Baker-Hogan: Sarjeant Art Gallery redevelopment costs must be transparent

Philippa Baker-Hogan

OPINION:

I appreciate this opportunity given by Midweek to give my impression and opinion on a wide variety of subjects, in areas that I am involved in. This may include the council, health board (until July) and some of my other community interests and roles, including 4 Regions Trust, Mitre 10 Mega Wanganui Future Champions Trust and my sporting interests, in particular.

I will start on a topic that will be top of mind in Whanganui at present: the Sarjeant Art Gallery. Two weeks ago the council and the public heard that this project has risen again from $55 million to $64.4m, a cost increase of $9.4m, with challenges in restoration and strengthening of the old (original) building and Covid construction pressures lamented as the reasons for this.

While I accept the above has some relevance and we are stuck between a rock and a hard-ball as the Sarjeant development is well underway and can hardly be stopped now, I dispute some statements being made.

The tragic 2011 Christchurch earthquake was the catalyst for the Government and councils to set standards and review council-owned buildings and the Sarjeant Art Gallery was our lowest rated at just 5 per cent of the Earthquake Prone Standard (EPS).

The case put to the council in 2012 was it would cost $14m to get the original Sarjeant Art Gallery up to 66 per cent EPS. It was confident of getting $10m from Government sources (Lotteries) for an extension to look after its significant collection, so if the council put in another $4m, then for $28 million we could have the Sarjeant Art Gallery and extension.

We are a decade on, still with no Sarjeant Art Gallery development finished and the project has ballooned out 2.3 times the cost, to more than $64.4 million.

I have at times reluctantly supported this project for the past decade, even when it has been given such precedence and huge council support, including $390,000 budgeted to support the fundraisers. As an example, other projects, like the Velodrome, have had to battle every step of the way, with the council leaving a voluntary group to push the case, for its own facility and then finally voting against the roofed velodrome project, even though it had the highest submissions (608) in history and the majority supported it; unbelievable!

My biggest bug-bear on the Sarjeant Art Gallery is transparency of ratepayer cost. The mayor says: "To date the council's only financial commitment to the project has been $5m through the long-term plan and a 2017 guarantee made to secure Government funding", when the council has already spent $2.68m (received $482k from Lotteries) in moving the Sarjeant Art Gallery and artwork to Taupo Quay, $930k for early concept designs, fundraisers etc so has committed more than $8m already.

The council may have to contribute close to another $10m, if the Sarjeant Art Gallery Trust is unable to secure more external fundraising, which could hike rates further by 1 per cent a year for 25 to 30 years. The Sarjeant Art Gallery costs $2m a year to operate from Taupo Quay at present (84 per cent residential ratepayer) and must increase with the sizeable Queens Park redevelopment.

The 2019 economic impact assessment (when the project cost $48m) calculated ongoing benefits of $11.4m per year, but the benefits don't increase with the cost, and Covid and the cost of living for our community and New Zealand suggest it will take quite some time to reap anything like those rewards.

I'm not against the project, just ask that the community and ratepayers are respected with the full facts.