Late funding request divides Ashburton council: ‘We are not a money tree’

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

A late funding request from an online safety educator has sparked division among Ashburton's councillors.

The request caused controversy as concerns were raised about maintaining a fair process and setting a precedent for late applications.

Digital Waitaha, a charitable trust that provides digital safety education, asked for $18,000 to put towards the $36,400 cost of a part-time coordinator dedicated to Ashburton because of the high demand for the programmes across Canterbury.

The staff recommendation was to grant $14,900, the remaining balance of the discretionary grant fund.

After some debate between the councillors the grant ended up being $10,000 on a 5-4 vote on Wednesday.

The request had been received after the usual funding allocation process, with the council distributing $308,000 to 87 community groups and sports at the end of June, including $77,750 to 17 community agencies.

The application was accepted as discretionary funding was still available.

During the deliberation, councillor Carolyn Cameron said the recommended amount was “the highest one of all the grants we have given out” because it benefited from being late and suggested $5000 – a motion that failed to pass.

Councillor Richard Wilson said he had nothing against the applicant and the work they are doing, but the process needed to be robust.

Funding was oversubscribed, with community agency requests totalling $241,000, and the council approved $77,750, Wilson said.

“We need to have a process where they all apply at the same time so we get a balanced view of each one.”

Councillor Tony Todd said most other agencies had received around $5000 and felt “if we processed this application at the same time it probably would have been in a similar ballpark”.

Councillor Lynette Lovett was concerned that approving the request could set a precedent and like many other groups, they will come back every year expecting a similar level of funding.

“We can’t keep funding group after group after group.

“There is good in these initiatives but we are not a money tree”.

Democracy and engagement group manager Toni Durham said that any grant funding is at the discretion of councillors and is used to support “good groups in our community to do work that otherwise, the community might turn to us to do as a council and we simply don’t have the resource to do that”.

Deputy mayor Liz McMillan said Digital Waitaha do a lot of good work with youth around digital safety but also with older people “who are getting scammed out of thousands”.

She supported the $10,000 grant, a motion that passed with a 5-4 margin.