Duncan Garner: Where was the adult in the room when $600k was spent on one council website?
Duncan Garner: "If this was a family budget, a small business budget or even a charity budget, the conversation would last about 30 seconds."
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I make no apologies for my firm views in this column, a simple piece about total madness and what results when you’ve never risked your own money. It’s what happens when your job involves spending other people’s money and you stop caring about its value.
I’m talking about the delusional and woefully out of touch Wellington City Council, which reportedly spent more than $600k on a website for – wait for it – the new library building, Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui.
The total cost of designing and building the website was $596,000 plus $72,000 for a year of hosting and maintenance. The website has a lot going on: colourful graphics, moving images, loads of photos – but how necessary is all of that?
I find it sickening and insulting to all of us who are paying more and more each year in rates. Then again, council largesse isn’t new in Wellington; it spent $2.3 million on public toilets, including $150,000 worth of rainbow lights.
Was the website even necessary? This money did not buy a digital platform delivering services, nor did it invest in new technology. It was just a website singing the praises of the new building and providing information on the services offered there.
Where was the adult in the room? Because for this to happen, dozens of people would have had to know. Someone proposed it. Someone scoped it. Someone approved it. Someone signed the purchase orders. Someone processed the invoices. Someone sat through meetings discussing it. Someone watched the budget climb. And not one person stood up and said, “This is insane.”
It’s gets more insane. Wellington councillors only learnt of the cost following an Official Information Act request. Councillor Diane Calvert and deputy mayor Ben McNulty have both spoken out about the excessive cost. In a Facebook post, McNulty said the hefty price tag left him lost for words.
“I found out about the existence of this website and its cost the day after the Council Grants Committee had met and been forced to decline $3 million in community funding due to a record volume of applications.”
How does a council end up spending $600,000 on a website? It’s about a culture. A culture of excess. A culture of entitlement. A culture of elitism where those doing the spending aren’t used to being questioned.