Auckland Mayor’s ‘build -it’ budget

Auckland mayor Phil Goff has gone big on transport and protecting the environment in his final proposal for the 10-year budget.

In what represents Auckland’s largest ever investment in infrastructure, Goff announced on Monday the budget would pump $26.2 billion into the city over the next decade.

The largest part of that will be going toward transport where Auckland Council plans to commit $12b, of which $4.3b will be leveraged from the regional fuel tax.

That will take the overall transport investment in Auckland to $28b - with Goff also indicating a further $4b could be on the way from the Government to help with light rail.

On the environment front, the budget will look to address the quality of Auckland’s waterways and the threats to native forests through targeted rates.

That was made possible through Aucklanders getting behind a new water quality targeted rate, Goff said.

$452m from that, plus an additional $400m from Watercare as a result of their normal increases in water rates, would go toward cleaning up beaches and harbours and the building of stormwater infrastructure.

A new natural environment targeted rate would allow a $311m investment to address the spread of Kauri dieback and tackle pests.

Goff acknowledged however that a city was more than its infrastructure, so a contestable fund of $120m was allocated for sport and recreation to work with community groups to increase the provision of indoor and outdoor facilities.

The Auckland Art Gallery will get a boost of $2m funding per year.

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