Hobart City Council refunds Taste stallholders $140,000

ABOUT $140,000 from sales during the Taste of Tasmania has been transferred to stallholders – five days after the event concluded.

Taste of Tasmania 2015/16 pictured is the new cashless system in use - someone being served.

ABOUT $140,000 from sales during the Taste of Tasmania has been transferred to stallholders – five days after the event concluded.

BY THE NUMBERS ■ About 240,000 visitations over seven days. ■ $5.15 million in stall turnover. ■ 330,461 transactions processed. ■ Council raised $440,000 in gross income by taking 10 per cent of sales.

The unallocated money, part of the total $5.15 million gross turnover during the event, came about because of glitches and discrepancies with the new cashless system called Albert.

Acting Lord Mayor Ron Christie said stallholders had now received a reconciled rep­ort of all their transactions throughout the seven-day festival.

About 20,000 fewer people attended this year’s Taste compared with last year, with about 240,000 visitations.

A secondary audit of the new cashless system examining the processes, reconciliations and final payments will be undertaken by Wise Lord and Ferguson, and overseen by the council’s independent audit panel.

The Taste was the first large-scale event in Australia which has used the Commonwealth Bank’s Albert system.

It processed 330,000 transactions but was plagued by connectivity failures and voided transactions.

Ald Christie said it was regrettable the trial of the Albert system had resulted in some operational issues that affected stallholders.

Festival Mushrooms owner John Caire, who was one of 39 stallholders to sign a letter to the council on Monday requesting a refund of the 10 per cent levy charged for Taste transactions, said he was happy with the money being refunded.

“I’ve got a refund coming my way [and] I’ve got a rejigged set of accounts that are being sent through to me by the council and it certainly addresses my problems,” he said.

MORE: REFUND SOUGHT OVER CASHLESS SYSTEM FAILURES

A full review of the event will be completed in the coming months and stallholders will be given an opportunity to have input before a report goes to council.

The new financial model, which saw stallholders pay 10 per cent of their turnover, raised an estimated $440,000 in gross income for council to help offset the cost to Hobart ratepayers of staging the event.

Meanwhile, Alderman Marti Zucco has supported calls from the heads of the tourism and hospitality industries for the Taste to be run by food and event professionals.

MORE: CALL FOR COUNCIL TO HAND OVER THE TASTE

“I totally agree politicians, including myself, should take a back seat with the Taste,” he said.

Taste director David Laskey said council had a strong track record with events and ran the Taste well. He conceded they hadn’t got the cashless system right this year.