Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown intervened in the meeting after councillors derailed from the topics at hand for the Budget. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
Auckland Council has voted for mayor Wayne Brown's 10-year budget plan to go out for public consultation next year.
The plan proposes rates rises, overhauling public transport to make it faster and more reliable, and creating a multi-billion dollar investment fund for the city.
Councillors spent the day picking apart the mayor's proposal, going section by section to question council staff on what Brown had set out for the plan.
Brown kicked things off, saying it had been a long road to get to Wednesday's meeting.
"This is meeting number 41 or 42 that we've had to get to this stage, and I want to thank you all for getting on and doing this process a bit differently to what we've done in the past."
He wanted to put the broadest range of options out to the public, leaving nothing off the table.
"In my view, this is the most fair and balanced thing we can do as a council," he said.
"Present all the options for Aucklanders to tell us what they think, rather than take any of these choices off the table."
But before he could, he faced a barrage of questions and debate from elected members.
Brown's proposal said the council needed to find $50 million worth of operational savings by the third year of the 10-year plan. However, Manukau ward councillor Lotu Fuli questioned whether there were any savings left to be found.
Auckland councillors hold a Budget meeting on 6 December, 2023. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
"We've just gone [through] a huge process of doing that as an organisation," she said.
"What I hear from our staff and from people on the ground is that they've really reduced and we're down to the bone."
Among the items out for consultation will be whether to:
- Hike rates up to 14 percent one year, and 10 percent the following two years, to pay for more services, or "pay less, get less", with rates going up 5.5 percent in year one, 3.5 percent in years two and three, then "no more than 1 percent above CPI inflation thereafter"
- Establish the Auckland Future Fund
- Transfer of all council's remaining shares in Auckland International Airport Limited into that fund
- Lease out Port of Auckland or keep it under public control
- Reduce the debt-to-revenue limit to 270 percent and introduce a debt servicing cost-to-revenue limit of 15 percent
- Maintain the path to fully funding depreciation by 2027/2028
- Hike rates at 1.5 percent above inflation, but more than that in the "short-term"
- Introduce group budget responsibility and transparency rules
- Sell $300 million in assets over a decade
- Maintain Watercare's debt-to-revenue cap at 340 percent
- Work with the government to deliver the 'Auckland Deal'
- Change Local Board funding "as set out in the Mayoral Proposal to bring most local boards to within 5 percent of funding equity within three years"
- Redevelop North Harbour Stadium, change its operational management and/or "maintain the status quo", only funding "essential renewals"
After hours of questioning, Waitematā and Gulf ward councillor Mike Lee asked chief financial officer Peter Gudsell if consultation done for the annual budget earlier in the year relating to council's debt-to-revenue ratio had been put out with the most reliable information.
"I think we need to be careful, in terms of consultation, that we adhere to factuality as much as possible," he said.
Unsatisfied with Gudsell's response, that consultation documents were a fair and balanced representation of the facts within, Lee insisted that the claims put out for were not factual.
North Shore ward councillor Richard Hills Photo: Alexia Russell
North Shore ward councillor Richard Hills called a point of order to address some of the language used by Lee.
"We've had a lot of disrespectful language over the last couple weeks, months, days," he said.
"We can disagree with officer advice [...] but I think the behaviour towards officers needs to change.
"The next six months are going to be tough, and I hope that that changes."
Waitākere ward councillor Shane Henderson did the same shortly after, sparking a shouting match between Lee, himself and the mayor that momentarily derailed conversations.
Over the shouting, Lee could be heard criticising Henderson.
"It's not the first time councillor Henderson had raised the issue of disrespectful language," he said.
"I think he shouldn't be lecturing anyone on disrespectful language."
Henderson responded: "Come on, you can't speak to points of order, this is disrespectful, I'll remind the councillor that he called me a hypocrite in the last meeting."
Finally, Brown intervened.
"Will you guys grow up please," he said. "Councillor Lee, just stop it".
