30 October 2020
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: CBD security patrols
Enquiry
I'm working on a follow up story re the inner city security decision, just on reaction from retailers etc.
I was wondering if you can please tell me what the budget for the revived service will be - will there be any change to costs?
(I understand you said yesterday the level of service will be reviewed regularly, so I imagine costs would change with that, so an attributable comment on that would be helpful)
How much was the council set to save by winding up the services?
Additional question:
To add on:
Speaking to business owners in the CBD today many of them claimed the council hadn't consulted or communicated with them prior to making the October 6 announcement about city security.
I'd like to invite the council to respond to that if desired.
Response
Response from Operations Group Manager Jocelyn Mikaere:
We expect the cost of this service to be similar to last year and these costs will come out of existing budgets.
As we move into the summer months, we will continue to monitor trends in the CBD and adapt our response accordingly.
We have previously provided the cost of this service for the year ending 31 March 2020 (see below). Any savings would have been dependent on what level of service was required throughout the coming year.
[Previous question from Rotorua Daily Post:
How much did the council spend on CBD security/city patrols (both contracted and paid staff) in the financial year ending March 31, 2020. Please break it out to show staff cost and contractor cost if possible. (I note we previously reported in November last year it was costing $28,000 a month.)
Previous RLC Response (9 Oct 2020):
The cost of our contractors (VR Security and Watchdog staff) for the year 1 April 2019 - 31 March 2020 was $409K. The cost of the inner city security patrols increased over the summer months (December 2019, January, February, March 2020) due to extended CCTV monitoring hours and extended night patrols which were required to meet community need at the time.
The cost of the Guardians' contribution to the patrols was approximately $50.5K for the same period (participating in the patrols was not their full time role and this is based on an estimate of what percentage of their time was allocated to the patrols).]
Please note the Guardians' contribution was not included in the $28,000 figure provided last year.
Response to additional question:
We made a decision at an operational level and will be looking at better ways to engage with the inner city community going forward as we establish what levels of service are required.
