More than $2 million in Government funding will be moved from Rotorua’s Aquatic Centre upgrade to a sewerage scheme.

That’s despite Rotorua’s mayor arguing it should go towards replacing the community spa pools ripped out during the renovation.

One councillor says the refurbished pool is “sad” and the council should have left the facility alone – “It was better how it was before.”

The Rotorua Lakes Council received $8.05 million in the first tranche of the previous Government’s Better Off Funding, which in 2022 it set towards the Aquatic Centre redevelopment.

The now-completed stage 2 received $6m, and $2.05m was set to fund pool additions in stage 3, with children’s splash pads, private spa pools, a dedicated learners’ pool and water slides among the options.

During last year’s Long-Term Plan process, the council decided to consider reallocating the stage 3 funding to something else.

Councillors have now voted to move the money to the $29m Tarawera Sewerage Scheme, saving the council from borrowing $2m.

They were divided in Wednesday’s meeting on whether the council should invest in “nice-to-haves”, as Don Paterson put it, or in reducing the cost of major projects.

He said it cost $20,000 each day the Tarawera scheme construction was paused to engage with mana whenua. Work has been paused since August amid protests and the council has reignited legal action with the aim of resuming work.

Mayor Tania Tapsell tried to have the funding kept with the aquatic centre – a project she said she was passionate about – but this motion was lost.

Tapsell saw value in spending the $2m on a splash pad and spa pools, an option that previously got to the design stage but was paused during the Long-Term Plan process.

Lake Tarawera near Rotorua. Photo / Laura Smith.

She said she appreciated feedback on affordability from those affected by sewerage scheme works – currently estimated to cost affected homeowners about $50,000 – but the council had also heard from families and children about the importance of the aquatic centre.

She said there was a community expectation that spa pools would be delivered. The old spas provided an affordable option, particularly for the elderly.

Lani Kereopa said she wanted to spend money on the aquatic centre for children’s sake, but the reality was that people were faced with being “rated off their land” by sewerage scheme costs.

As a mother and grandmother, she hoped to find a way to “sort the aquatic centre”.

“Where we are now with the aquatic centre is actually pretty dumb.

“The pool is the bare minimum. It’s actually really sad, the offering in Rotorua … we should have just left it alone, really. It was better how it was before.”

Before refurbishment, the centre had lap swimming pools, spas, a lazy river and a splash pad.

Now there are two lap swimming pools and a leisure pool with two metal slides that were reinstalled from the old pool.

The spas and lazy river previously brought in about $145,000 in revenue each year. They were removed during stage 2.

When councillor Robert Lee asked why the spas were taken out, chief financial officer Thomas Collé said they were “old and dilapidated” and needed significant refurbishment.

Collé said there was an interested party for a joint venture and, while he could not provide details because of commercial sensitivity, he said the council would probably need to contribute more than $2m.

This was for the splash pad, spas and hydro slides option.

Councillor Conan O’Brien noted Tarawera had not received the subsidy levels other lake sewerage projects had.

He asked if the $2.05m could be distributed as a rebate, in some form. Chief executive Andrew Moraes said options would be brought to the council on how it could be distributed.

Collé suggested one way could be to offer a rebate to those who signed up to the scheme “at a certain pace”.

Councillor Rawiri Waru understood it would be easier to find funding for infrastructure projects compared to the aquatic centre, while Gregg Brown said there was an opportunity for a joint venture for aquatic centre add-ons and so preferred the money to go to the Tarawera scheme.

Allocating $2m to the scheme would act as an olive branch to ratepayers who saw scheme costs rise, “avoiding us a punch up”, he said.

“I would see it as cost-saving.”

Rotorua Aquatic Centre's leisure pool slides were reinstalled in the upgrade, following a polish. Photo / Laura Smith.

In response to questions from Local Democracy Reporting, a council spokesperson said an initial design was progressing on spas and a splash pad and would progress if external funding initially allocated for the project remained available.

“The extent of what stage 3 work will be completed is yet to be finalised and further funding opportunities will be explored.”

It received “a lot of positive feedback” on its Facebook page when the centre opened but did not keep a record of this feedback.

It had not received any complaints since the pool reopened.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.