Official Information Request - 24 February 2020

Sent: Wednesday, 25 March 2020 4:56 pm

Subject: LGOIMA - Council events 2017-2020

I refer to your email of 24 February 2020 where you requested the following information:

• A list of all Rotorua Lakes Council public events in 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 ytd (council financial years) - 'public events' clarified as 'entertainment events open to the public'
• How much the council spent on each of these events
• Where applicable, who or what other funders for these events were and how much they contributed
• A comparison of the council's budgeted spend to actual spend for each of these events
• The proportion of the spend on these events combined compared to the overall council expenditure that financial year (in 2019/20 compared to expenditure to date)
• What, if any, tracking the council does to measure the impacts of these events on the local economy. How much did each event contribute?
• The council's understanding of the attendance of each event, and how that was counted.
• Where attendance is not known, why it is not known.
• Any other measurements the council may have of the event's impact, other than attendance and economic - for example, social or community impact etc. If so, for each event, what were these impacts?

Attached is a list of events for 2019/20 until 24 January, along with how much Council has contributed to these events both financially and in kind (first two bullet points). This information has been compiled without any charge.

The cost of 'in kind' staff time has been calculated using the Ministry of Justice charging guidelines for LGOIMA requests (ie: $38 per half hour).

To compile the same information for the previous two years will take a considerable amount of staff time, estimated at approximately 10 hours. Council is entitled to charge for time in excess of one hour and, as per the Ministry of Justice charging guidelines, our normal practice is to charge $38 per half hour or part thereof. Therefore to complete this part of your request would incur a cost of $684 including GST.

With regard bullet points 3-9, this would take a significant amount of time to compile for each individual event, for which Council would need to also charge. Before Council progresses to estimating how long this would take, would you like to refine your request to specific events?

Following government's direction Council will enter total lock down tonight, with staff working from home in a limited capacity. Council's first priority will be continuing essential services.

Because of the limited capacity of staff working from home, investigation and compilation of any further information for this request will need to be delayed until the Level 4 lock down is lifted and Council is back to normal work mode.

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Complaints can be sent by email to info@ombudsman.parliament.nz, by fax to (04) 471 2254, or by post to The Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.

Publication of responses to LGOIMA requests

Please note: Our LGOIMA responses may be published on the Rotorua Lakes Council website after they have been responded to, with requesters' personal details withheld. If you have any concerns about this please contact the Council on info@rotorualc.nz .

Regards