In the wake of major flooding and land slips, an extra $20 million was added to Auckland Council's budget for disaster spending.
Video / NZ Herald
Have your say on Auckland Council’s new budget: Part 6 in a 6-part series.
What does Auckland Council’s draft budget have to offer a city ravaged by two of the most severe storms in its history? A city made brutally aware that many of its citizens live in flood-prone partsof town, while others live on hillsides, cliffs and other parts of the shoreline susceptible to wild weather?
In the wake of the Anniversary Weekend storm, an extra $20 million was added to disaster spending. Mainly, this will probably pay for better maintenance of stormwater drains and a range of disaster response measures, including better planning and a stronger ability to manage the crisis as it unfolds and the cleanup afterwards.
The money will come from an extra 1 per cent added to general rates.
Nobody is saying $20m is enough, but it’s a significant increase on what was there before. But is the new budget still fit for purpose?
It’s not a rebuild fund and there is nothing to underpin comments by Mayor Wayne Brown and others that the city needs to rethink its urban growth strategies. However, this will likely inform the next round of planning for the 10-year budget, which starts later this year.
What about lowering emissions? Auckland has bold climate targets, including commitments under its Climate Action Plan and the Transport Emissions Reduction Plan to halve emissions by 2030.
In pursuit of this, officials advised the council in December that the Climate Action Targeted Rate (CATR) will generate $574m over 10 years to 2032. And with “Government co-funding and additional fare revenue”, the total CATR investment package will be worth $1.05 billion.
This money is supposed to provide for the expansion of “buses, ferries, walking, cycling and the urban ngahere (forest)”.
The highly functional and relatively cheap Nelson St cycleway in central Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig
But the council budget and the spending plans of Auckland Transport do not align with these policies or the emissions reduction targets. AT says bluntly it does not have the money to deliver.
The budget even proposes a “reprioritisation” of $10.5m of CATR funds earmarked for the buses next year. That would stop or delay the expansion of bus services and it could impact the purchase of more e-buses.
Making the bus network more attractive to users, with increased frequency and reliability, low fares and speedy travel times is critical to reducing emissions. The fast rollout of safe cycling networks is also critical. Despite CATR, very little is proposed for either.
This may impact us internationally. Auckland belongs to a group of cities called C40, which was set up by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and others as a forum in which to “demonstrate global climate leadership and inspire others to act in support of the (COP21) Paris Agreement”.
Membership of C40 is subject to reassessment in 2024: at this point, it is not clear if Auckland will qualify to remain in the group.
The budget also cuts other environmental programmes. The Natural Environment Targeted Rate, which pays for work on kauri dieback, pest control, tree planting and the like, is being reduced by two-thirds.
Kauri dieback on the Maungaroa Ridge, Piha. Photo / Michael Craig
So is the Water Quality Targeted Rate, which helps make Auckland water safer and the beaches cleaner after heavy rain. This cut seems to contradict the allocation of extra funds for stormwater maintenance.
The council says these targeted-rate cuts are not real cuts, because the work was delayed anyway. But that avoids two issues. First: Should the 2023-24 programme accept that delay or seek to overcome it? And second: What guarantees are there that the lower level of spending won’t be baked into the future programme?
In effect, they’re saying: “We weren’t going to spend the money, even though we had it allocated, so we might as stick with that.” Is that good enough?
Auckland Council budget: Have your say
All this week, the Herald is backgrounding the key issues.
Public consultation on the draft Auckland Council budget runs until March 28. You can have your say online, or by phoning or writing in. The council is also holding dozens of “drop-in” events, community barbecues and public meetings. The details are here.
