Southland
At a full council meeting on Tuesday, Invercargill City councillors committed to $700,000 annual funding of ILT Stadium for the next three years, an increase of 57% on the previous $400,000 funding agreement.
The Stadium’s owners, Southland Indoor Leisure Centre Charitable Trust, requested the increase to ensure it had funds available for long-term maintenance.
Last month, city councillors recommended that the public be consulted about the request through the annual plan. However, Cr Nobby Clark put forward a motion for the council to fund the increase without this process.
Nobby says the funding was “important to secure the long-term future of this world-class facility. None of this was possible without a dedicated group of councillors who are now more focused on progress as opposed to process.
“We have a commitment to many issues that have been left unattended for far too long.”
Before the vote both Cr Darren Ludlow and Cr Lesley Soper both opposed the three-year deal, Ludlow preferring the 12 month option.
When the vote was taken, Cr Lesley Soper was the only councillor to vote against the funding increase, stating that over half of submitters opposed a funding increase in the last public consultation.
Southland Indoor Leisure Centre Charitable Trust chair Alan Dennis was “thrilled” with the result.
“We can now plan maintenance work for the next three years. It was also pleasing for ICC to acknowledge the importance Stadium Southland is to the wider community and the people, events, and money our world-class facility brings to our city.”