Following the recent flooding in Central Otago, the Council has approved $480,494 of funding from its roading emergency reserves fund to help pay for the damage.
The heavy rain event in early October resulted in temporary road closures and restrictions, flooding, scouring, washouts, blocked culverts and debris build up throughout the district.
The impact on the Maniototo ward was significant, creating widespread demand for grading and spot metalling.
This was third weather event, with the Central Otago District Council approving $103,986 for the repair of Bridge 93 on St Bathans Loop Road in January 2023 and $89,795 for repairs across the network in February 2024.
At a meeting of the Council on Wednesday 27 November 2024, a report referred to a comprehensive review of rainfall data that showed that the recent event was a 1 in 20-year to 1 in 30-year rainfall event for many areas.
A 51% New Zealand Transport Agency subsidy ($500,106) has been applied for under Work Category 141 (Emergency Works), which the roading team was reasonably confident of securing. The remaining $480,494 will be funded by Council from the Council-wide roading emergency reserve account.
Council maintains two emergency works reserve accounts, which prompted some discussion about which account should be used to fund the work. The Council-wide emergency works reserve account has a balance of approximately $2.6 million (surplus) as of 30 June 2024.
The roading emergency works reserve account is in deficit by approximately $525,000 as of 30 June 2024. The 2024/25 Annual Plan has budgeted to reduce the deficit by $162,000. It was deemed that the funding would be taken from this account, and that the amount the Council allocates to it would be looked at through the Long-term Plan, due to the repeated impact of weather events on roading infrastructure.
The full impact of the rainfall event will not be known until all recovery work is complete. Any costs over $980,600 will fall on Council and will be funded through normal roading maintenance and renewal budgets.
