Auckland Council’s budget crunch: How will the Super City pay for its future? - The Front Page

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown outlining the new deal for Port of Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell

The Auckland Council meets next week to discuss its Long-Term Plan.

It comes as Mayor Wayne Brown u-turned on plans for a long-term lease for Port of Auckland after brokering a $1.1 billion deal with port bosses and the Maritime Union to maintain the status quo.

This week, Brown backed away from the lease he’d championed after failing to get sufficient support. He announced the new plan - signed by himself, Port of Auckland chairwoman Jan Dawson and Maritime Union general secretary Grant Williams - will see the port contribute $1.1b in profits to its council owner over the next 10 years.

This will exceed the returns from investing the projected $172m proceeds of a port lease.

The idea was part of the proposed “Auckland Future Fund” - which would also entail the sale of the council’s remaining airport shares, worth about $1b.

The rainy day fund has been touted as having the potential to be an enduring base for the city’s future.

Its key objectives include improving the council’s long-term financial resilience, reducing risks presented by climate change and other major environmental challenges, and diversifying the council’s investments.

The fund will be one of a raft of ideas discussed at council next week - as well as rates, services, and how to respond to future disasters like flooding.

NZ Herald senior writer Simon Wilson told The Front Page the fund would operate similar to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

“It would be an equity fund that invested in infrastructure and various other things and would enable the council to diversify its asset base to invest in things that were worth investing in for the good of the city to make a better and more reliable return.

“The expectation is that they will proceed. I’m advised that the mayor has the numbers around the council table to sell the remaining [airport] shares to set up the fund and also that he has the numbers to drop his port lease operation plan and keep it with the existing Port of Auckland,” Wilson said.

Regarding rate rises, Wilson said Auckland has proposals for the next few years that all are under 10 per cent.

“That is a remarkable achievement that this council has been able to make by being rigorous with where it spends its money.

“There’s been a lot of staff cuts across council operations, There’ve been reductions of services, and some of them sound weird, but they all add up.

“One of them, for example, is the people tending the parks and reserves don’t cut the grasses short. So the grass is allowed to grow longer, and it doesn’t need to be cut as often,” he said.

One other recent decision to remove rubbish bins across the city. Wilson said that it shows how the Council has looked everywhere to try and save money.

“There are people who don’t like the fact that their local rubbish bin where they put their doggy-doo has disappeared, and Wayne Brown has shot back and said take it home... or walk the next 100 metres to the next rubbish bin.”

Listen to the full episode to hear more about the issues facing Auckland Council, and how it might be able to solve them.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.