Will MEIT Ever Stand on Its Own?

BY GEOFFREY and REIHANA ROBINSON

Celebrations and good news flow like a steady stream from the dream project that is the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust.

With a two-day open house just finished, delivery of two new takahe, and launch of the rebranded “Sanctuary Mountain” tourism offer, the trust’s public face is all smiles.

But behind the headlines, MEIT looks shaky. The trust has been facing an ongoing financial crisis that can only be solved by a combination of increased ratepayer bailouts and marketing magic.

According to General Manager Malcolm Anderson, “The situation beyond June is grim”.

Anderson was being real about the organisation’s finances at a mid-April Maungatautari Reserves Committee meeting at Waipa District Council with representatives from regional council, DOC, Ngati Karoki Kahukura, and a few landowners.

The MEIT manager admitted be was staring down the throat of a potential income shortfall of up to $472,000 in the financial year just started. Major hits include loss of DOC grants that in 2010-12 totaled $375,000, as well as planned step reductions in Waikato Regional Council’s massive annual support.

Financial statements filed last September also show declines in donations and cash grants of $109,000, or 13 percent. Meanwhile, expenses increased, resulting in a total operating loss of $123,000. And that’s after annual $300,000 cash injections from each of WRC and Waipa District.

Although current financials are not yet available, it’s easy to see why Anderson might be pressing the panic button. Except in the public relations snapshots, it’s not a pretty picture.

While MEIT failed yet again to meet its financial targets, Anderson has been back at the public well. WRC, which had voted modest cuts to its annual grants starting this year, recently reversed field by granting yet another year of $300,000 support. Anderson has been petitioning DOC for new funding and may also seek cash from Waipa above and beyond that council’s current $300,000 annual fix.

The question is, will it ever be any different?

From the start, MEIT has been dependent on ratepayer and taxpayer handouts while promising accountability. After a $2.1m fence grant, the then-EW was forced to plug an emergency MEIT cash deficit by raiding the council’s fines account for $350,000. Then in 2009, when councillors voted three more years of $300,000 annual life support, the understanding was MEIT would be putting itself on a self-sustaining financial footing.

But for sober observers, a financially independent MEIT was never a realistic outcome. Rates-conscious EW/WRC councillors warned of a financial “black hole” as far back as 2008 and have done so each year since. They have been proven right. Ratepayers continue to foot the bill.

Enter “Sanctuary Mountain”.

MEIT has been trialing tourism since December, fitting out a new visitor centre and offering paid guided tours around its Southern Enclosure, wetlands, and over the mountain. Visiting school groups also pay.

Earlier this month, free entry to the trust’s showcase Southern Enclosure was stopped, with introduction of a $15 per person fee for self-guided visits. Thanks to a free voucher posted to Waikato households, locals can see what their rates dollars have been buying.

But tourism income doesn’t come free. It takes marketing, advertising and staffing money to make money. Wellington’s Zealandia sanctuary, with a major city and constant flow of tourists at its doorstep, still struggles. With “Sanctuary Mountain” a solid hour drive from most Hamilton suburbs and no public transportation option, big numbers will be hard to pull.

And it’s not even as simple as that. With settlement of NKK claims on the mountain, the future of commercial concessions and tourism on the mountain, as well as the entire reserve management strategy, will be subject to alteration. Significant change is a given.

The problem at MEIT is that financial stability and self-sufficiency are always “just around the corner”. Each bailout has been a matter of “just getting over the hump”.

When reality hit in 2009 and most salaried positions were terminated, volunteers picked up the slack. But fast-forward to 2013 and MEIT once again has a fulltime general manager, plus funding, marketing, education, and visitor centre staffers. Costs have escalated.

As a private tourism proposition, MEIT is certain to require many more millions from ratepayers and taxpayers to fund its expanded activities. And the underlying problem is endless public funding without public control.

The preferred future of Maungatautari could instead be a slimmed-down conservation, biodiversity, and educational project with low overhead co-managed by councils and iwi. Sometimes, less is more.

Geoffrey Robinson and Reihana Robinson comment regularly on local government, public policy, and environmental issues.

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