The hall at Maniaiti/Benneydale.
Waitomo deputy mayor Allan Goddard has suggested meetings with community halls committees to discuss rising insurance costs.
Some of the rural hall operators were already struggling to pay insurance costs – and some were considering not continuing with insurance, he said.
“Benneydale alone is up over $6000, Mahoenui is up over $3000,” he told last week’s Audit and Risk Committee meeting.
“It think there might be a need before the next insurance renewal, that we get back to them and talk to them about the level of cover. We have it done it before but since then prices have gone up again.”
Chair Jaydene Kana noted other councils recognised the age of certain buildings and taken the risk not to insure and therefore not pass on the cost, but added “I’m not advocating”.
A report from asset accountant Wayne La Roche and chief financial officer Tina Hitchen said the council’s insurance premiums for the 2023/24 financial year were $442,000 – up from $351,000 last year.
The increase was mainly driven by a rises in premiums as a result of unprecedented natural disasters, nationally and globally.
Insurers wanting to reduce their risk exposures at a time when the council’s asset values were increased for inflation and additional assets including the Gallagher Recreation Centre were added.
The value insured under the material damage policy rose from $133 million to $175 million. Public and professional liability insurance cost to council increased from $54,000 to $66,000 – that was primarily driven by uncertainty and high risk in building control work and the challenging insurance market.
