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Resolution
number KT/2022/255
MOVED by Chairperson J Gillon, seconded by Member T
Spring:
That the Kaipātiki
Local Board:
a)
provide the following feedback on the
Mayoral Proposal for the Annual Budget 2023/2024,
and the Staff Advice to support Mayoral Proposal:
i)
note that the local board has only had
~48 hours to consider the proposal, and reserves the right to support, oppose
or comment on detail that may have been missed in this feedback.
ii)
acknowledge the difficult financial
circumstances that Auckland Council now finds itself in due to the changing
economic environment, including increases in inflation, interest rates and
cost of materials, following the global COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns,
iii)
however we also note that Auckland
Council had already been left in a precarious financial position by
overstretching itself with extremely costly projects, in particular the City
Rail Link, leaving little headroom to respond to recent financial strife
without imposing substantial cuts to frontline services, defunding and
deferring community projects, underfunding growth infrastructure,
underfunding essential services such as enforcement, selling local parkland,
raising rates, raising debt, etc, which are all unpalatable to the
Kaipātiki Local Board. For this reason, there should be a greater focus on
regional cost savings rather than local cost savings.
iv)
the local board is frustrated and
disappointed that local board chairs were not invited to speak to the Mayor
before his recommendation was released on proposed opex reductions, at which
time the extent and significance of impacts could have been explained from a
local perspective. In contrast, the Governing Body and CCOs have been given
the opportunity to give direct input to the Mayor for his proposal. This is
not in keeping with the governance partnership of the Governing Body
(regional) and local boards (local).
Local Board
Funding
v)
oppose the proposed 5% reduction to
local board budgets, due to:
A)
only Local Board Discretionary
Initiatives (LDI) Opex budget able to realistically be considered for a reduction
due to statutory timeframes, which therefore equates to ~50% reduction of LDI
Opex budget per local board;
B)
LDI Opex budget is used to fulfil the
primary purpose of local boards in the Local Government (Auckland Council)
Act 2009, namely for “better enabling the purpose of local government
to be given effect to within the local board area”. Any reduction in
LDI Opex budget will detrimentally impact this purpose;
C)
LDI Opex is used to deliver front-line
and ratepayer-facing services and initiatives, often at a cheaper rate than
council could deliver, by utilising third-party providers. For the
Kaipātiki Local Board area, that includes funding the Kaipātiki
Community Facilities Trust, Pest Free Kaipātiki Restoration Society,
Kaipātiki Project, and several community centres, to effectively deliver
local government services in the Kaipātiki area. Any reduction in LDI
Opex budget will have a significant impact and be to the detriment of local
communities.
D)
local boards are in a governance partnership
with the Governing Body, yet have for many years been underfunded by the
Governing Body to adequately fulfill their statutory role, and have already
had many projects deferred or cancelled in recent years due to budget
pressures.
E)
local board funding cuts should not be
implemented until local boards are able to offset those shortfalls, through
levers such as targeted rates and increasing leases, etc.
vi)
support the proposal to give local
boards greater discretion to adjust the maintenance and administration costs
recovered in community leases, to better reflect the actual costs of
maintenance and administration where appropriate.
vii) request that, should the decision to reduce local board Locally
Driven Initiatives Operational funding be made, that the reduction is for the
Annual Budget 2023/2024 period only and does not extend beyond the 2023/2024
year.
Rates
viii) support consultation on variety of options for an increase in
general rates, and reserve the right to provide feedback following the public
consultation process.
ix)
support pausing the Long-Term
Differential Strategy for the financial year 2023/2024, noting that business
rates are tax deductible, unlike private residential rates, and would endorse
a reversal of strategy as it has been a significant contributor to the steady
increase in private residential rates in recent years.
x)
express concern that any pausing of the
Natural Environment Targeted Rate could affect necessary projects funded by
the rate, in particular kauri dieback mitigation work in our parks.
xi)
express concern that any pausing of the
Water Quality Targeted Rate could affect necessary projects funded by the
rate, in particular water quality improvement of the Wairau Catchment.
Asset sales
xii)
oppose the proposal to sell any reserve
land, parkland or open space in Auckland, as they are required to support the
expected increase in population.
xiii)
support consultation on selling
Auckland Council’s shares in Auckland International Airport Ltd, and
reserve the right to provide feedback following the public consultation
process.
Use of Debt
xiv)
request that council choose to fund a
higher level of capital expenditure from borrowings than currently planned.
Regional Services
xv)
support public consultation on the
regional services proposal, as we are wary of the proposal to “utilize
user pays funding for these activities, reducing the service level, by
stopping the activity or identifying a different delivery method or
agency” without seeing more detail on the proposal, as many of these
programmes and services are used and enjoyed by residents of the
Kaipātiki Local Board area, including Citizens Advice Bureau, Music in
Parks, Movies in parks, group fitness leisure programmes, sustainable schools
programme, community-led centres, etc.
xvi)
support leveraging central government
investment into social services currently being delivered by Auckland
Council.
Regional Grant Funding
xvii)
request that a temporary reduction in
(rather than cessation of) all general rates-funded, regional, contestable
grants be considered, as a discontinuing these funds will compound impacts on
our communities already impacted by cuts in LDI Opex budgets.
Open Space and Stormwater Maintenance
Services
xviii) request that any proposal to reduce maintenance services for open
space and stormwater is consulted on with the public, and not delegated to
the Chief Executive for implementation.
xix)
request that staff review the current
procurement policy and cost of capital projects to determine whether savings
can be made through local procurement of maintenance services.
xx)
oppose a reduction of 30% in rubbish
bins from across Auckland. While there are undoubtedly some bins that could
be rationalized, many are located where they are due to past issues with
rubbish, and such a large arbitrary cut will undoubtedly result in an
increase in littering and illegal dumping in those locations, making Council
look foolish at removing the bins. Already many overflowing bins are only
emptied when members of the public report them to Council, indicating that an
increase in bins and budget, rather than a reduction, may be warranted.
xxi)
oppose a reduction in level of service
for garden maintenance. Kaipātiki residents want to take pride in their
public spaces (and used to), but this has been challenging in recent years
with weedy overgrown public berms, roadside kerbs, and public gardens. We are
already not receiving the expected level of service and use our LDI Opex to
fund third-party groups to remove weeds from our parks, and potentially
becoming a health and safety issue.
xxii)
oppose a reduction in level of service
for turf. We are already not receiving the promised level of service with
many parks in the Kaipātiki area already have patchy, uneven grass areas
(and “temporary” lack of mowing signs up in many parks year-round).
We are also concerned that this policy may apply to sports fields, which
could cause issues with the use of the fields by sporting codes.
xxiii)
oppose the stormwater reactive
maintenance budget being reduced if this will contribute to reduced or
deferred stormwater maintenance, particularly where the work is urgently
needed. Sudden stormwater flooding incidents are likely to increase with
climate change, and so this is an area where Council should be increasing
budget, not decreasing it.
Group Shared Services, and strategies,
policies and plans
xxiv)
support the proposal to
“accelerate work on shared services across the Auckland Council
Group”, “urgently progress work to consolidate corporate office
space, and urgently progress work to reduce the number of strategies, policies
and plans across the Auckland Council Group by simplifying and consolidating
strategy and policy activity”.
xxv)
support the investigation of
back-office savings by identifying efficiencies and reducing duplication, but
do not support any reduction in local board services staff that directly
support local board functions, particularly with the anticipated increase in
local board decision-making.
xxvi)
do not support any plan that involves
merging the Kaipātiki Local Board office/boardroom with any other local
board office/boardroom (for example, Devonport-Takapuna or Upper Harbour),
nor do we support the divestment of the Kaipātiki Local Board office and
boardroom without a suitable replacement space, noting that leasing
commercial space or hiring space in an ad hoc fashion is not supported.
Early Childhood Education
xxvii)
strongly oppose the withdrawal from the
direct provision of early childhood education services (Kauri Kids), without
a clear mandate from our community.
xxviii)
support the retention of Beach Haven Kauri
Kids, Birkdale Kauri Kids and Glenfield Kauri Kids, as they are successful
and profitable programmes that are in high demand with waiting lists.
xxix)
note that Kauri Kids are popular
community-minded programmes, and a different model to commercially-run early
learning centres.
xxx)
oppose the decision on withdrawing from
early childhood education being delegated to staff, as currently proposed.
xxxi)
request that any proposal to change in
direction to the provision of early childhood education is consulted on with
the public, noting that such a change would be most appropriately consulted
on during as part of the long term plan process, and request staff report
their findings to the local board.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited
– Regional facilities and economic development
xxxii)
request that Auckland Council dissolve
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited (TAU) and transfer all assets (including the
Auckland Zoo, Auckland Art Gallery, Maritime Museum, Auckland Live, Screen
Auckland, stadiums, etc) back to the Council parent, with decision-making
vested in a committee of Council. The local board supports the continuation
of Council running Auckland Zoo, Auckland Art Gallery,
Maritime Museum, Auckland Live, Screen Auckland, stadiums, etc, including the
funding of these assets, however we do not believe that TAU is core business
of Auckland Council and is a “nice to have” in the current
financial environment. We do not believe it is delivering economic
development in the correct way, and see no investment in the Kaipātiki
Local Board area. We do not support Council being involved in attracting
businesses such as COSTCO and Chemist Warehouse to New Zealand, detrimentally
impacting local businesses. We also do not support Council being in the
business of attracting large events to Auckland.
xxxiii)
express concern at the lack of
information on what the proposed reduction of $27.5 million actually means.
We support keeping council facilities reasonably priced and open for
sufficient hours to ensure maximum access for Aucklanders.
Auckland Transport – Public Transport
Fares
xxxiv)
support consulting on the
proposal to increase public transport fares in line with inflation, with a
caveat to ensure that the public receives the modelling information during
consultation illustrating the potential impact of the loss of the government
subsidy and the increased fares on public transport usage.
Auckland Transport – Public
Transport Services
xxxv)
do
not support the proposal to hold public transport services at current levels
by not reinstating all trips removed as a result of bus driver and ferry
operator shortages
xxxvi)
do
not support any further reductions in current service levels of public
transport.
Eke Panuku – Capex Deferrals
and Opex Reductions
xxxvii)
support the continuation of the
Northcote Unlock project.
xxxviii)
provide the following feedback
on proposed changes to fees and charges in Active Communities –
bookable spaces
xxxix)
express concern that standardising fees and charges across all
Auckland Council facilities reduces the ability of Local Boards to respond
locally to the needs and resources of their communities. The draft
standardised fees circulated to local boards appears to prioritize
organizational uniformity over responding to the diverse socio-economic needs
of Auckland's communities.
xl)
express concern that the draft standardised fees circulated to
local boards appears to have almost all rates set higher than current levels,
which will have a detrimental impact to local individual users and community
groups. Local Boards need to retain the ability to customize fees and charges
for their local area, and not be penalised financially by choosing fees and
charges lower than those set as the regional standard. However, Local Boards
will be unlikely to be able to afford to off-set higher rates due to proposed
cuts to Local Board budgets.
b)
request that staff provide feedback on options and timing of a
Local Targeted Rate, for the entire Kaipātiki Local Board area, to
enable the continuation of community development work programmes that are
currently funded through our existing Local Board Opex, to a similar level as
in 2022/2023 financial year, in case local board LDI Opex budget is reduced
as part of the 2023/2024 Annual Budget.
CARRIED
Note: Under Standing Order 1.9.7 Member M Kenrick
requested her dissenting vote be recorded for clauses a) xii), a) xiii), a) xiv)
Note: Under Standing Order 1.9.7 Member M Kenrick
requested her abstention recorded against clause a) xxvii) – a) xxxi)
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