Yet another WCC financial stuff up

The Post reports:

The Wellington City Council’s latest budget blowout has been revealed ‒ a $56 million shortfall between what was budgeted and reality.

The second phase of the council’s social housing upgrade programme (Hup2) had plenty of known numbers: A $446m budget over a 10 year programme, 825 units across about 50 projects with 2308 beds being brought up to standard.

But during a councillor briefing it was revealed that one vital number was missing: The 15% GST bill, which the council could not recover. That equated to $56m in real terms.

If only any of the 1,800 staff at WCC had accountancy degrees, where you would be expected to know about GST.

The blowout comes after two blunder-induced rates errors, just months into a new triennium, as the new council deals with the fiscal fallout of last term’s $80m sludge plant blowout and a $147m blowout on fixing the Town Hall.

There is a difference between a cost blow-out and an error. This is the third error in as many months revealed by WCC. That is simply not good enough for a large organisation with so many staff. Of course people make errors, but you are meant to have systems for checking so that errors are discovered before final decisions are made.

Will any staff member be held responsible for these errors?

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