A $207,000 underspend on the Flat Bush Library was among the sums the Board redirected to pest control, youth and a reserve plan
The Howick Local Board has reallocated $235,000 after a series of underspends in the last quarter, including $207,000 that was not spent on the Flat Bush Library.
Board member Damian Light, who was the previous Board chair when the library project commenced, said the Board had put the underspend “towards early funding”, which “reduces challenge for next financial year”.
The Board noted the underspends in its quarterly performance report for the three months to March, which recorded $238,424.06 not spent across several budget lines.
Alongside the library figure, the report listed $23,836.20 that had not been spent through the Howick Village Association.
The Board moved $185,000 to bring forward funding for Pest Free Howick, $25,000 to the Youth Council and $25,000 to the Mangemangeroa Development Plan.
A further $3,424.06 was added to the Board’s community grants budget.
The $207,000 came from the budget to run the new temporary Flat Bush library at Ormiston Town Centre, which the Board had funded with $489,000 for the year.
Light said the Board had prioritised the temporary service to “deliver on the promise made nearly twenty years ago”.
“While finding the funding wasn’t easy, we prioritised this project,” he said when it was announced.
The library opened on 4 April 2026, and the report said spending on it was “lower than planned” because it had “officially opened” only then, later in the financial year than the operating budget had assumed, leaving the money unspent.
The reallocations, moved by member Adele White and seconded by member Luke Collings, were agreed on 28 May, bringing the pest-control and youth funding forward into the current year.
