Community groups will compete with council trust for funding

SIMON EDWARDS

Hutt community groups are worried the city council's plans for a community facilities trust will tighten the screws on an already- pinched funding sector.

The council is consulting on the idea of a trust taking on development, ownership and administration of certain community facilities.

The trust would seek one third of the money for projects such as the Taita Sport and Community Centre, Fraser Park Sportsville and Huia learners' pool from bequests, pokie trusts, lotteries and so on.

The Taita project - a $12 million redevelopment of Walter Nash stadium and adjacent community centre and library - could be first off the blocks.

For that it is proposed the trust seek $3.5m in "community contributions".

A spokesman for a local group trying to upgrade its facilities (he asked we didn't use its name for fear of souring its links with the council) said the trust would be a serious competitor in a shrinking pool of funding sources.

"It will be going out looking for millions of dollars from the same trusts and sources we approach."

The chase for funds is tight. The New Zealand Community Trust distributed $38.3m to groups nationally in 2010/11, but 33 per cent of applicants did not get any money. The Hutt's Community Development Fund gave out $156,000 in 2010/11, but $516,972 had been applied for.

Erin McMenamin, founder of Supergrans, says they are fortunate to have Social Development Ministry contracts. But as they have expanded to Wellington and Porirua, they are likely to cast the net wider for additional funding. She could see how having a council organisation competing for funding "could make things awkward".

Helen Kelland, fundraising manager for Te Omanga Hospice, says the chase for grants "is definitely getting tighter."

"The pool of money is getting smaller and smaller each year. The dollar can only stretch so far and there's a huge number of not- for-profits in the Hutt Valley."

Having a council trust approach the same funding sources won't help.

Te Omanga is fortunate to have an established brand and reputation as it seeks to raise $2.1m in the community every year.

The council's community services manager Matt Reid says he appreciates the problem but the trust - like community groups - is also about creating something "for the betterment of Hutt City."

"If that means we're competing with another community organisation [for grants] I guess that's the reality of what we're trying to do."

The council is not abrogating its responsibility. For the Taita centre, for example, it is putting up $4m itself.

Mr Reid said: "Would council want to pay for the whole thing and on-charge to ratepayers? Probably not if there's opportunity to raise funds elsewhere."

As one councillor noted, without the trust model - the tax advantages, its ability to raise loans against the value of the asset, and to leverage community funding - projects like the stadium upgrade could languish for more years.

zFriday is the deadline for submissions on the Community Facilities Trust. See huttcity.govt. nz/haveyoursay.

- Hutt News