The Mount base track re-opens today with Tauranga City Council staff taking the opportunity to reveal how the $650,000 repair job was paid for.

Tauranga City Councillor Larry Baldock and council staff tour Mauao's base track ahead of its full reopening to the public today.

A memorandum presented by city parks manager Marie Gordon and released to the public details not only the costs of the repairs, but how the estimated $650,000 required was obtained.

Mauao park ranger team leader Warren Aitken and council development engineering team leader Steve Hurley examine a water out pipe.

'The savings available to council to enable the repairs to Mauao to be undertaken without exceeding the approved budget have come about through a proactive approach to managing costs,” says Marie.

Falling rocks remain a risk for walkers and joggers on Mauao's base track, but overall the mountain is deemed safe for public use.

Examples of city parks costs savings to generate the surplus funds now spent on repairing Mauao include:

• Cutting turf from Bayfair Reserve to repair grass areas in other parks – saving the cost of buying in turf from a nursery.
• Reusing retired playground under surfacing bark as a garden mulch.
• Separating green waste from rubbish when gardening to reduce the weight of refuse being dumped.
• Changing the type of turf to reduce mowing requirements.

'Total savings made this way are still being calculated and the examples are not the full list, but even these simple changes initiated during the first half of the year have resulted in an estimated saving of $50,000 in one contract, which had otherwise been planned to be spent this year,” says Marie.

An Evergreen Land Care contractor sprays grass seeds onto a slip – a process used to stabilise the land.

'There are other areas already identified as having similar opportunities, which will be implemented progressively and will be reflected in the year end reporting.”

Normally, the savings achieved are banked and not used to take up other opportunities.

Marie says additional effort has been made to reduce spending further as a result of the rain in January to accommodate the cost of repairing Mauao within the approved budget.

This includes a delay in re-levelling a sports field at Grenada Park, reducing the extent of the planned planting in the Gordon Carmichael Reserve, reduced spending in the Kopurererua Valley, employing PD workers to do some of the maintenance work normally done by contractors, reducing the normally proactive response to customer requests to address only essentials.

This has affected weeding and minor park improvements.

They have also been getting some sharp prices on contracts, says Marie.

'Just this week we had quotes come in for some work on Coronation Park that ranged from $8000 to $24,000,” says Marie.

By the end of December 2010 there was an overall under spend across the maintenance budget of $635,000.

The figure is a mix of true savings where the money would not be required because we had done the work for less and budget unspent where the work is still to be undertaken or not carried out as planned.

'In March, the expected costs associated with repairing Mauao access was $650,000.

'After all the work that has been done so far and with a lot better information now available to us, that estimate stands,” says Marie.

'It also includes cleaning up after all the minor slips that have occurred since January which have added to the expense.”

A final actual cost may be available by the time the parks department does its end of year reporting, but that is subject to the remaining repairs being completed by then.

Slip repairs on Mauao are expected to continue to be an annual expense as they have been for decades.

'The thing that is unpredictable and has the biggest impact financially is the scale and extent of the damage each time.”

Mauao track repair costs as at 9 June 2011

Total Specialist consultant services: $87,642. (Expected to end up at $110,000)

Total Security: $50,000. Includes security guards, fencing, signs, installation etc.

Total Construction: $260,000. (Expected to end up at $490,000.)