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Published on 09 December 2024
Waitaki District Council is pleased at the news that Observatory Village Lifecare will be repaying the funding loans made by Council.
This includes the $15.6 million of core funding, as well as a $2.5 million short-term facility. The total of $18.3 million will be returned to Council in January 2025. This loan allowed Observatory Lifecare to get started on the project to ensure that the non-profit charitable village with aged care and supported living facilities were available in Oamaru.
Mayor Gary Kircher says: “The retirement village has been an excellent investment for Council and the Waitaki community - we now have close to 100 homes that we probably wouldn’t have had, and those homes have freed up close to that number of family homes across the district. We now have an additional 81 care beds for our people, at a time when new beds are needed but very few are being built, and we have an organisation which is now worth over $60 million and contributes rates to Council. Council’s role as an initial investor has been crucial to that happening and the new arrangements will see a council loan paid back and the opportunity for the Retirement Village profits flowing earlier to help fund the health needs of our community. The village is a result of the work of many people and organisations and every single one of them deserve to be very proud of what has been achieved!”
The $18.3 million was sourced from Council’s reserve funding for replacing infrastructure and was returning income to Council while it was extended to Observatory Village.
Chief Executive Alex Parmley says: “It is wonderful to see that Observatory Village Lifecare is able to repay, in full, the loans we have invested in this much needed development and facility. This is a great example of Council working in partnership with our community to deliver a project that we could not undertake ourselves. It also delivered a return for Council that helps support the services we deliver to the district. ”
The Mayor and Councillors will consider the future use of this reserve funding at the full meeting of Waitaki District Council in February 2025.