Port Motueka Endowment Fund's Future Secure

The Council’s Corporate Services Committee resolved on the 16 August 2012 to continue to “ring fence” the Port Motueka Endowment fund and to use it to benefit the Motueka harbour and Motueka coastal area.

“This resolution should give the users of the area and local ratepayers confidence particularly after the 2009 High Court decision that said the endowment fund was no longer valid and therefore the funds could be put to general use beyond the original mandate,” said Mayor Richard Kempthorne.

“In making our decision we took into account the history and original purpose of the 95-year-old account and believed, despite various amalgamations and changes in local governance, the funds were generated in Motueka using Motueka property for the specific purpose of maintaining the assets for the benefit of the whole District.”

“The Council has maintained the endowment fund as a separate account since the High Court decision in 2009 to enable the decision-making process we have been through. As a result it is purely a matter of putting the policies and processes in place to meet the objectives of the fund.”

These policies and processes will be presented in draft at the next Corporate Services Committee on 27 September 2012.