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Gore’s ratepayers have to stump up for a leaky apartment building more than 1200 kilometres away.
And it looks likely that other councils around the country will also have to pay up over the building.
The Gore District Council will pay more than $60,000 regarding a leaky waterfront apartment development in Napier, because an insurer has incurred more in claims than it has collected from its members.
The need for the payment arises from a ruling from the Supreme Court about the development, which has been the subject of a long legal battle between the Napier City Council and the Local Government Mutual Funds Trustee, known as RiskPool.
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The GDC was a member of RiskPool, which provides protection to councils for the likes of water tight building cases and other building developments that result in claims being lodged against local authorities.
A letter from Riskpool to the council, which was tabled at an audit and risk committee meeting on Tuesday, says it has incurred more in claims and expenses (before allowing for claims provisions) than has been received as contributions and calls from members, and its board has resolved to make a call on members to pay a contribution to fund the deficits.
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“This is not the type of Christmas present that the council was expecting,’’ the report says.
At the meeting, he likened the council’s relationship with RiskPool as marriage vows “for better or worse, and this is the worse,’’ he said.
In response to questioning from Councillor Richard McPhail, he said the GDC had never laid a claim with RiskPool.
Mayor Ben Bell asked if the council was still a member.
Parry said if he recalled correctly, the council had opted out of RiskPool in about 2018, but it still had a liability for claims that were made when it was a member. This was one of those cases, and he would check to see if there were any more, he said.
RiskPool was now being wound up, he said.