Council proves its worth in crisis
Super City lends a helping hand for the most vulnerable during the pandemic
Auckland Council workers are helping tackle the humanitarian crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic by ensuring the delivery of food parcels and staying in touch with the elderly.
And while the council has been ready and willing to deploy staff to the immediate needs of the hungry and vulnerable, council officers have also been assessing the financial difficulties ahead for the Super City.
On a lighter note, the council has kept connected with Aucklanders with a steady stream of content.
A video it shared during level 4 of orang-utans arriving home at Auckland Zoo proved a huge hit with more than 330,000 views. Exercise videos by leisure staff were watched by more than 110,000 people and e-book downloads soared to more than 330,000 during the period.
Library memberships have risen, with 2868 people signing up to the digital service.
Public transport trips, however, have plummeted during lockdown from about 275,000 trips per day. Buses and trains have kept running to allow 15,000 daily trips for essential workers and people travelling to supermarkets and pharmacies.
Mayor Phil Goff highlighted the case of council setting up a food distribution centre at Spark Arena and deploying call centre staff to man the phones to help with the delivery of 20,000 food parcels.
More than 150 staff assisting Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) have handled more than 30,000 calls to welfare support and emergency helplines, he said.
Redeployed library staff have made 15,000 calls to check in on residents over the age of 70 as part of a multi-agency Ministry of Social Development-led outreach initiative.
AEM has established a Ma¯orifocused team working alongside iwi, hapu¯, wha¯nau and marae to identify and bridge gaps in the delivery of welfare services and 1239 welfare parcels.
“Council staff have also assisted with the managed isolation of more than 5430 people, including 3570 people who arrived in Auckland from overseas between April 9 and April 27, and were required to spend 14 days in managed isolation.
“This has been an extraordinary time for Auckland, and we’ve seen inspiring examples of how our communities have been helping during such a challenging period. I would like to acknowledge these efforts and those of our council teams,” Goff said.
AEM group controller Kate Crawford said it had been heartening to see how quickly the teams have responded to the various needs of the community, particularly given the
We’ve seen inspiring examples of how our communities have been helping during such a challenging period.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff
scale and logistics required.
The council has also been focusing on the financial impact of Covid-19 during the lockdown and modelled a net revenue loss of between $150 million and $350m over 15 months.
The modelling also found between 10 per cent and 30 per cent of Aucklanders will struggle to pay rates for the rest of the year and need help.
The council is allowing ratepayers to pay the last quarterly rates bill for this financial year, due on May 28, by August 31 without incurring a penalty, and is considering further rates assistance in the new financial year starting on July 1.
In the next few weeks, council will
consult Aucklanders on a planned rates increase 3.5 per cent alongside the option of a 2.5 per cent increase. Officers are considering various impacts of a zero rates rise.
Writing in the Herald on Friday, finance committee chairwoman Desley Simpson said the council has tough choices to make about the services and activities it will be able to support.
“To those of you waking up to a new financial reality: you are far from alone. We stand with you . . . I want you to know that we are listening,” she said.
Panuku Auckland, the council body which operates a large commercial and residential property portfolio, said 139 commercial tenants, 32 residential tenants and 73 berth holders at its marinas have registered for hardship after four weeks in lockdown.
It has set up a process for assessing claims, recognising that the pandemic has a disproportionate effect on some tenants over others, for example food and beverage and retail tenants.
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (Ateed) has also reported that 1266 businesses have registered for support and 769 vouchers have been issued for Government-funded expert business support worth $1.4m.