Auckland Council makes public pay for V8 racing
"Did the government contribute when the race was in Hamilton?"
Featured commentAuckland ratepayers will pay for V8 racing at Pukekohe from next year.
The council's strategy and finance committee has approved a $10.6 million spend over the next five years to attract racing back to Pukekohe.
Economic development minister Steven Joyce has also backed the proposal, throwing $2.2 million of taxpayer money into the plan.
"The government has agreed to a one-off capped investment to secure the V8 supercars in New Zealand," he says.
"This investment will deliver a cumulative return for New Zealand. An independent study shows the events will contribute around $7 million to Auckland's GDP in the first year."
The government's contribution will come from its major events development fund, which has an annual budget of $10 million a year.
Pukekohe Business Association manager Kendyl Gibson told NBR ONLINE this week businesses will see a "huge increase" in visitor numbers as a result.
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Comments and questions22
Did the government contribute when the race was in Hamilton
I, as an Auckland rate payer, strongly object. If only i could deduct my portion of this comittment which I was not asked an opinion of.
If Dear Len continues in such a way with our funds, I will consider leaving Auckland for better shores !!!!
I Agree!!!! $10 million! unreal, that money can be spent somewhere else! Does anyone know if there is a petition against this?
Shame Lenny wont be around to explain the losses.
What was the benefit of the Supercity and the promises of Len Brown when elected as mayor, again?
Is there really no respect for spending other people's money anymore?
Interesting that the council will spend money on bringing cars to race on a nice smooth surface, yet I pay rates every year and my road is gravel that is full of potholes.....
Our Lenny is a slow-learner.
Yet again rate payers are made to pick up the tab. If its a commercially viable event then let the private sector shoulder the risk.
Time for Loony Len to take a visit (funds ex the race car fiasco to come 'budget') Stockton in California.
He is varroming his Supacity V8 straight to the same bankruptcy situation.....perhaps that's what he needs to see....what it looks like when the money runs out and the ratepayers bee-off.
C'mon you daucklanders look at the benefit Leftie Len is promising. Add this to the ginormous benefits of the World Rugby cup, the American cup benefits and I'm surprised that you can still walk down Queen St. without drowning in the piles of money (benefits) you are getting.
"Will no one rid us of this profligate mayor?"
Liability Len has to go! He is rating us out of Auckland, already!
Well done Len and Steven !!
There are too many bleaters who bemoan lack of any initiative in stimulating economic activity in this country and at the first sight of having to invest dollars to create it (or suffer 300 new poker machines) they are the same ones who are bleating even louder.
Do any of these economic whizz-kids have any idea of return on investment - looked at in wider economic terms than simply money back in the tin. A tin which, I might add, was set up for this very purpose. I for one am happy to see another major sporting event visit Auckland and so too will a great many businesses in Pukekohe and likely the central city who will also benefit from an influx of petrolheads.
Go the Fords !!!
This is the problem with the supercity - rate payers from the North are paying for an event which will only benefit businesses in the South.
My real question is why are we using Pukekohe. I though that track had issues (ie. end of life or resource consent issues) which is why Hampton Downs was built. It would make sense if one was north and one south but do we really need two tracks so close to each other.
Hampton Downs is nowhere near ready for an event like this. The "International" portion of the track is still to be bult, there is nowhere suitable for the grandstrands required for the public to watch the event, the traffic issues around the event would be absolutely horrendous as there is only one access route to the track which will result in queues backing up for kilometers down the motorway and there is a resource consent restriction to the number of people that can attend any event at the track, which, if I remeber correctly, is 20,000 people per day, well short of the numbers that would be attending at Pukekohe.
The only "end of life" issues with Pukekohe is the fact that the Counties Racing Club have invested virtually nothing in the ongoing maintenance of the track
As for the "$40 million fiasco" it cost Hamilton, a big portion of the problem is that Hamilton was a track built out of local roads, so there was the repeated costs of setting up and stripping down the track infrastructure, such as the seven kilometers of fencing, the pit facilities and the grandstands.
There will be no such costs at Pukekohe. There is some remedial work that will need to be done, mostly related to the track but also, hopefully, fixed the shockingly dilapdated grandstand and, I suspect, more permanent grandstand seating will be installed
Agreed 100%.
But don't forget that Pukekohe has always been Holdens hunting ground when it came to the V8 Supercars, with Ford only winning two individual races, never a full weekend
Go Holden!
As this is really a de facto benefit situation, all racegoers should surely be drugs-tested.
And you can include Lenny in that lineup.r
I would be more concerned what Lenny would do if he stopped taking his medication!!
He would probably turn into you if he did.
Then the same should aplply to all sporting events, since there is no sport in New Zealand that does not receive some form of public funding.
The Auckland Council is inept. While the city has numerous issues to be addressed with regard to infrastructure(old sewerage system. waste water, footpaths etc) they choose to be sidetracked by a "feel good event" that will burden the city with more cost and no guarentee of a return. Are the council unaware of the fact that we are living in hard times with no imminent prospect of climbng out of this and so as with our households financial restraint has to be a fact of life. The minister of local government should step in to this issue but the gutless National party won't ..in fact i hear they are contributing to the event. Shame on them.
It is interesting to speculate which verdict will resound most with the general public.192.168.1.1