South Waikato District Council considers whether to fund Tokoroa Santa parade

Are Santa parades core council business? (File photo) Photo: FARMERS SANTA PARADE

When the government told councils to "get back to basics", it would have been good if they had defined what it considered "nice to haves".

That is according to South Waikato District mayor Gary Petley, whose council next week will debate whether Anzac memorial events and Christmas parades are core council business they should help fund for the community - or not.

"It's all very well for [the government] to be sitting in Wellington and telling councils they should be reining in their costs, but as far as community well-being, where do we draw the line?

"Do we not put any work into playgrounds? Do we not put any work into swimming pools?" Petley told Checkpoint.

Petley said he was in favour of the council supporting the Tokoroa Santa parade, which was cancelled by the council last year.

It had received significant feedback from residents expressing disappointment there were no Christmas events in Tokoroa.

"It wasn't great," said Petley about community response to the decision.

But the Santa parade was only one of the events that might fall into the government's "nice to have" basket. Another is Anzac Day ceremonies.

The estimated cost to the council of providing support to Anzac Day ceremonies in the South Waikato towns of Tokoroa, Tīrau and Putāruru this year was $44,245, of which staff costs were the largest component ($22,560).

Currently, support for 2025 Anzac Day ceremonies was unbudgeted expenditure. What to do about that was also going to be debated by the council next week in its local services committee meeting.

When it came to the Santa parade, Petley said the main cost - approximately $35,000-$45,000 - was related to traffic control.

"That's the biggest burden on the cost structure around providing those events, road closures and everything that is tied up with traffic control," he said.

When asked by Checkpoint where else that money might go, the mayor suggested it could feed into the footpaths budget.

"We want to try and do as much as we possibly can, but every council in New Zealand is feeling the pinch at the moment, and when we're told to just concentrate on core services - we are doing that - but it's just where we fit everything else in."

South Waikato has one of the lowest rates rises in the country for the 2024-2025 year at 8.9 percent, but this follows one of the country's highest last financial year at 18.5 percent.

Petley said he was hopeful a community group might step up to help with the Santa parade this year, and that funding might be able to be secured from local organisations.