Another successful year for our committee with 1673 hours of voluntary time being recorded which was a 16% increase over the previous year.The popularity and usage of our community park is continuing to grow strongly particularly as we add new features and activities for families and visitors. This is very heartening for us all and I want to thank all of our small but dedicated team for the continuation of your hard work. MAZ is definitely becoming a destination point for the community which is very timely with the rapid growth that the whole Mangawhai is experiencing.
Our fund raising activities continued throughout the year with a highlight being the successful auctioning of our Charity home in February 2016.I have decided so that we don’t get confused with our audited accounts that we should show our net income ( $79,744) for the year while our total expenditure for the same period was $310,401. The majority of this expenditure was generated from income as shown in last years report. ($349,124)
I would like to add that Charitable trust monies available to groups like MAZ is on a declining path in NZ as poker machine numbers are in decline and Kaipara in particular is one of the smallest “catchment” areas in the country due to a relatively small population. This means that current and future funding requests are being vetted by the Gaming Trusts more closely than ever and we need to be aware that our requirement to raise the estimated funds of aprox. $800,000 to complete MAZ will be difficult if The KDC does not give us solid support. We started lobbying the potential new Councillors at the end of this reporting year and it has continued strongly in this current year.
Throughout our 2016 year we installed numerous shade sails, made many additions to the skate area along with finishing the BBQ’s and started the levelling of the lower oval for cricket and junior soccer.We also added Peter Cornes and Fred Roberts (Thank goodness) to our committee as well as accepting the resignation of Bridget Smith.In February we hosted the 5Th Bowl Jam which is still the biggest stand alone event at the Park. New rules for commercial activities have been designed with modifications needed going forward.We also commenced our Crowd Funding programming in August which quickly grew to $20,000+ and continues to grow. However a lot of work is required going forward but it is worthwhile as it is potentially a good means of income generation with other avenues becoming “tighter”.
Morgan of Cool Beans commenced his activities mid year and although the income for MAZ is modest he helps with the community feel of MAZ as well as being a popular member of the skating fraternity. It also helps retain our GST status.
Our Trust assets now exceed a million dollars and we have a partially completed park that I know we are all very proud of.I look forward to completing our project within the next 18 months if we are successful with obtaining Council funding from the Reserve Contribution Fund. This is my personal aim on behalf of you all this year along with numerous funding applications a number of which are in the pipeline now.
Thank you all once again and in particular Lara and Peter who carry out a lot of behind the scenes work with secretarial and accounting functions.
Colin Gallagher
MAZ Chairman