Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / RNZ, Marika Khabazi
By Jessica Hopkins of RNZ
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is going to axe ratepayer-funded lunches at council meetings after being grilled about the council’s big catering bill.
But the lunches are just a small part of the council’s spend on food and drink.
Information obtained under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) revealed the council spent $1.4 million in the year to March 31, 2025 and almost $5m in the past four years on catering.
That included catering cost totals of $832,000 from Auckland Transport and $565,033 from Watercare.
But when RNZ first approached Brown about the council’s catering bill and the lunches served to him and his colleagues, he was not concerned.
“Surely if I’m going to sit there for seven hours and listen to what some of the councillors dribble on about, I can have a couple of sandwiches at lunchtime.
“You’re focusing on the wrong things. You should be talking to me about really big, important things, not the musings of some new councillor.”
The cost of lunches for governing body meetings and workshops fluctuated year-to-year; at $3123 in FY2022, $18,439 in FY2023, $10,471 in FY2024, and $15,625 in FY2025.
Brown said the council had pulled up boards who spent “a lot of money on booze”.
“We discourage that immensely.
“But the council itself is very parsimonious. Recently, there was a gathering of all 160 board members, and there was a proposal to spend $32,000 on catering, which was cut back to $2000. In other words, you gave them a cup of tea and a bun.”
Councillor John Gillon, who requested the information about catering, said what was being provided was more luxurious than the mayor was letting on.
“He may only be taking a couple of sandwiches, but there’s definitely more on offer; gourmet paninis, filled rolls, a wide selection of salads and pasta, meatballs on sticks, sausage rolls.”
He said the elected members could bring their own food or buy something during lunch break.
“I’m happy with some tea, coffee, and biscuits, but anything beyond that I don’t see as being necessary.”
The mayor’s office backtracked on Brown’s comments shortly after he spoke to RNZ.
It said the mayor had directed that food should no longer be served at full council meetings, as he believed the issue had become a distraction.
“He wants councillors focused on delivering outcomes for Aucklanders, not debating meeting catering.
“The mayor hopes councillors concentrate on large sums of money, given the fact that this is a multi-billion-dollar organisation.
“He also noted that using a LGOIMA on your own organisation is not the right way to achieve meaningful results, and said the decision removes an unnecessary sideshow so attention can stay on the important work that matters.”
But Gillon said those lunches were only a small part of the problem.
“Council doesn’t seem to have a specified budget for catering. It seems to be left up to the project managers and the heads of departments to decide on an ad hoc basis how much they’re going to spend on catering.
“For that reason, the figures tend to fluctuate each year between the departments. Sometimes they’re spending huge amounts, and sometimes they’re spending small amounts. But what I think this indicates is there needs to be a much firmer policy.”
He said he would be taking further action to try to bring down the council’s overall catering costs if the mayor did not.
“I’m surprised he’s [the mayor’s] not concerned about the amount being spent on catering. I would’ve thought he’d be keen to take advantage of this revelation. I’ll be speaking to the [Auckland Council] CEO about whether there are ways to rein in these costs.”
Gillon noted that council staff had advised him that the best way to get the information he was asking for was through the LGOIMA process.
Economist Brad Olsen said while avoiding extravagant spending was important, the council had bigger fish to fry.
“There’s always a legitimate question to be asked over spending on things like food for council meetings.
“But a lot of times when you look at spending on the likes of food for meetings, if you are having extremely long meetings, often you do need to, or it’s best to provide something because you do keep people engaged.
“The mayor is probably right that, if it’s become a distraction, they probably can go without it.
“But I do get the worry here that we seem to spend an enormous amount of time sometimes on smaller pieces, whereas bigger changes that could be looked at around procurement, getting better value for money across, say, the likes of roading or water contracts or similar, it’s probably going to deliver a lot more to the organisation.”
Workers’ rights advocate Chloe Ann-King said she was interested in what any savings made as a result of the mayor cutting back on catering were spent on.
“Where’s it going to be put? Is it going to be put into food banks? We do have massive food insecurity in this country, so Wayne Brown saying we’re going to cut lunches for workers who are already on high wages and can afford food. What difference is that going to make?
“Everyone should be fuelled at work and fed, but that should be across the whole of New Zealand.”
Council financial advisory manager Brian Chan said light snacks for long and important meetings were appropriate, as was catering for special occasions like inaugurations, community events, blessings and pōwhiri, or for special guests and delegations.
“Often, elected members will spend an entire day, and into the evening, participating in a meeting and only taking short comfort and refreshment breaks in order to get through a long and complex agenda.
“Our catering spend is not on lavish morning teas or long lunches for council staff.
“We have an internal catering team which provides simple, cost-effective catering options for justifiable business purposes. This enables us to keep costs down and gives us the flexibility to adjust quantities when needed and not over-cater.”
He said council staff were expected to “show restraint” and consider whether catering was necessary.
“We are guided by the Standing Orders of the Governing Body for elected members and the council’s Catering Guide for staff and external events.
“Catering is not provided by default. Our guidance states that morning tea may be approved for business meetings over 2.5 hours long and lunch may be approved if the meeting is over four hours long and if there is no easy access to kitchens, kitchenettes or council cafes.”
He said serving alcohol at council events was a “rare exception” but permitted in some circumstances.
Auckland Transport pointed out that its catering costs dropped from over $300,000 in 2023 to under $200,000 in 2024 and 2025.
“We do limited catering for board and committee meetings where these exceed three hours or run concurrently, and there are no options for board or management members to leave and buy their own lunch. This is always considered and limited, using council catering suppliers.”
Watercare said it also had a strict approval process for entertainment and hospitality spending.
“We are mindful that Watercare is a public organisation – we expect our people to exercise judgment with respect to catering and follow our sensitive expenditure policy.”