Support for larger rates increase
Aucklanders have opposed council spending cuts on the scale proposed in mayor Wayne Brown’s annual budget.
The release of public feedback to the controversial budget shows the region’s poorer communities in the south and west have some of the strongest opposition to any cuts, favouring higher rates and/or more debt.
The feedback will kick off nearly two months of political debate on the budget, which aims to close a forecast record deficit of $295 million.
On the future of the council’s roughly $1.9 billion stake in Auckland International Airport, the biggest response from individuals was in favour of retaining the entire shareholding (34%).
The smallest response was in favour of selling all the shares (25%), while 28% favoured a partial sell down.
In a Kantar public opinion poll commissioned by the council, only 24% favoured selling all the airport shares, 17% opposed any sale and 52% favoured some being sold.
Brown’s preferred option is to sell the entire shareholding to reduce debt and the accompanying interest costs, but Stuff understands councillors are divided on it.
Brown’s proposed mix of ideas apart from the share sale, is a 7% rates rise (discounted to 4.6% for one year by reducing two targeted rates) and wideranging cuts of $130m.
On the question of how high to raise rates versus increasing debt, 52% of individuals backed higher debt or rates, with 25% supporting Brown’s proposed rates rise.
‘‘There are still difficult choices to be made that require some compromise,’’ Brown said in a statement accompanying the release of the feedback, seen by councillors in a closed-door workshop on Wednesday last week. ‘‘I am quite prepared to negotiate on aspects of my proposal, but there has to be some alternatives on the table,’’ he said.
While the mayoral proposal launched the budget process in December, from then on the budget is in the collective hands of the elected members. A simple majority is needed in favour of whatever the final version is.
Some councillors are already trying to gather support for a higher rates rise to reduce the level of spending cuts, which could hit a wide range of community funding, social and economic programmes.
Other proposals – such as higher rubbish charges and the introduction of a food scraps collection – gained majority backing.
There was a bigger response to the proposal by Aucklanders declared as ‘‘European’’ than their share of the population, while Asian, Pasifika and Māori were under-represented.
A stronger response came from the central and northern parts of the city.