Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown will ask local boards to cut 5% from their annual funding of $298m when he puts his 2023/24 budget proposal to Auckland Council’s governing body this week.
The budget proposal will seek savings of $130m across Auckland Council and its council-controlled organisations (CCOs) in an effort to plug a forecast gap between revenue and expenditure that last week jumped to $295m, the mayor said in a statement issued on Saturday.
Chair of Henderson-Massey Local Board Chris Carter said his board won’t be happy about the cut and some community groups will miss out.
“But if it means we don’t sell major assets then it will be worth it,” Carter said.
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The former Minister of Local Government said he had strong views on the importance of public ownership of strategic assets like water and the airport shares.
On Friday, Brown announced he is proposing to sell the council’s 18% shareholding in Auckland International Airport to make a $88m saving on debt and interest costs.
Ricky Wilson/Stuff
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown will propose local boards find savings of 5% in their budgets when he puts his proposed budget to Auckland’s councillors this week.
Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Toni van Tonder said any sort of cost saving would impact the area.
She said for many community groups, local board grants were a lifeline, but the board had to be pragmatic given the council’s financial situation.
“These things are going to hurt communities, but big rate increases will also hurt communities.”
She said the board would need to consider what projects will continue – because they had already started – what can wait and where there is wriggle room.
Manurewa Local Board chair Glenn Murphy said it would be difficult to make the savings with inflation running at 7%.
“We’re looking to bring things home to local procurement, and we’re going to work with community groups and volunteers. We’ll do our best to contribute,” Murphy said, adding that it was always going to be difficult coming out of the Covid years.
Brown said local boards might find savings through reduced spending on locally driven initiatives and asset-based spending, postponed spending on assets, and administrative efficiencies.
“Things are tough for everyone right now. Our local boards will have to play their part in the hard work being done to bridge this budget hole and create a sustainable financial path for the future,” Brown said.
“When the fiscal burden of the next financial year is behind us, I will be recommending that more funding and more decisions be controlled by local boards than ever before.”
Brown said he would like local boards to be given clear budgets for their communities, have the sole power to decide how to spend the budget and have the sole political and legal accountability over funds and decisions.
