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Resolution number GBI/2014/44
MOVED by Chairperson IM Fordham, seconded by Deputy Chairperson SP
Daly:
That the Great Barrier Local Board:
a)
Notes that although Auckland Council has moved towards a single
rating system resulting in the region being rated on an equal basis, equity
in asset and service provision has not yet been addressed.
b)
Notes that locally driven initiatives over which local boards
have decision making authority account for less than one percent of council’s
total operating costs and that up to 40 percent of this amount is in general
budgets such as staff allocations and overheads over which local boards have
no authority.
c)
Considers that the principle of equitable funding for all local
boards which is the basis of pursuing the local board funding policy can
never be achieved if boards have full decision making authority over less
than one percent of total operating costs and that this percentage is totally
inadequate if the co-governance model Auckland Council is operating under is
to be effective and given the scope and importance of work delivered by local
boards and the extensive resources already applied by Auckland Council to
this delivery.
d)
Requests that further work be undertaken to address service
level equity issues and to increase local board funding to a realistic level
funded from reallocations from the local asset based services area to the
locally driven initiatives area for consideration and approval by local
boards as a prerequisite to implementation of the local board funding policy.
e)
Supports the officers position that the Great Barrier Local
Board not be funded by any of the local board funding scenarios being
considered on the basis that it is impossible for the Great Barrier Local
Board area to meet any of the criteria for such an approach.
f)
Requests that officers urgently identify a specific proposal by
which Great Barrier is to be funded and recommends that this be based on funding
level which is no less than the historic 2011-2014 annual plan levels
adjusted as appropriate for inflation.
g)
Notes its rationale for this position being that the community
relies heavily on local board funding given that with the exception of the
library, all community services and facilities which would be provided or
funded elsewhere in the region by Auckland Council are provided by local
community groups which rely heavily on local board funding.
h)
Further notes that for the past three financial years on
average 56 percent of the board’s discretionary budget has been allocated to
community groups and that over 50 percent of this budget has funded
infrastructure on private land which is available for public use which
elsewhere in Auckland would be funded directly by Auckland Council.
i)
Notes that officers current recommendations will lead to
funding increases and decreases across the local boards and recommends that
general rate allocation scenarios are developed where no local board receives
any reduction in funding
j)
Recommends that both asset based service levels and locally
driven initiatives are funded by the general rate as they are core council
activities, essential to cohesive communities and Auckland being the world’s
most liveable city.
k)
Notes that a local rate is not an option for Great Barrier as
the island’s small population would mean that insufficient funds would be
generated to achieve the aim of a local rate.
l)
Recommends that with the exception of the Great Barrier and
Waiheke local board areas, funding for locally driven initiatives should be
based on population with adjustments for deprivation, geographic isolation
and the amount of rates collected being applied as appropriate.
m) Forwards
these resolutions to the Local Boards Funding Policy Political Working Party
and the Finance and Performance Committee for their consideration and to the
Waiheke Local Board for its information.
CARRIED
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