Cash shortfall hits Ashburton Event Centre refurbishment

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

Wear and tear is starting to show at the Ashburton Events Centre after 16 years in operation, and plans are in place for its revitalisation.
The problem is, the money isn’t.

The event centre opened in 2008 and now needs significant renovations to ensure it remains a state-of-the-art facility for local, national, and international performances.

But since it opened, the Ashburton Performing Arts Theatre Trust has not been setting aside money to fund future purchases of assets - an accounting procedure known as 'funding depreciation'.

The latest audited accounts show an annual depreciation of $143,991, and an accumulated depreciation figure of $2.17m.

Ashburton mayor Neil Brown raised concerns that if the centre’s 15-year-old air conditioning unit failed they wouldn’t have the funds to replace it.

“No-one has been funding the depreciation which has been alerted to over all the time I’ve been on council.

“Council is aware of it but we have still not funded it.”

It will be a consideration in the long-term plan process, he said.

Revitalisation plans, costing an estimated $900,000, include upgrading the speaker system, lighting, technology, and accessibility in the venue.

The trust is requesting the establishment of a capital expenditure account, which will be considered as a long-term plan submission.

The idea is the council would contribute a set amount annually as part of the operational grant to be used for the estimated $182,000 of refurbishments –painting and furnishings.

Outgoing trust chairperson George Brown said the refurbishments would be the most difficult thing to raise money for.

“We felt that maybe we could be asking the council to be helping us with that part of it.

“In effect, it's depreciation. [Depreciation] has never been funded by a council grant and we accepted that, but it does get to the point where we will have to do something over the next five years to get that upgraded.”

The trust, a registered charity, will also be going to the public at large for funding as well as looking at fundraising and grant opportunities, he said.

The upgrades are about future-proofing the centre to maintain it as a modern facility and compete with other venues, centre manager Roger Farr said.

One example is the sound system that “at the moment certainly still works”.

“The issue I see with it is it was second hand when it went in 15-years ago.”

The council grant is $298,860 in the 2023-24 year and the event centre is also asking for a 5% increase to $324,800 in 2024-25, which will also be considered in the long-term plan process.

-------------------------------
Busy six months

The Ashburton Event Centre's six-month report highlighted a continuing trend of increasing use post-Covid, centre manager Roger Farr said.

It had more than 16,500 people through the venue in the July-December 2023 period.

“We are sitting around 75% bums on seats,” Farr said.

Community events made up 62% of the bookings, with 88 in the six months.