[Video: The 'We’re getting on with it' banner with the five-cartoon people is enlarged against a white background with the Auckland Council’s pōhutukawa logo and its elements scattered in light blue.]
[Video: From left to right, the first cartoon person is wearing a teal headdress and an Auckland Council lanyard. The second person is dressed in a yellow shirt and an Auckland Council lanyard. The middle cartoon person is wearing a green t-shirt and is holding a semicircle-shaped sign showing illustrations of Auckland’s landmarks and landscape with the text, 'Our Plan'. The fourth cartoon person is holding a wrench and is wearing an orange high-visibility vest and a yellow hard hat. The fifth cartoon person is wearing black glasses, a pink top and an Auckland Council lanyard.]
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Good evening, everyone. We are here for the Auckland Council annual plan webinar. Just waiting on a few more people to join, and then we will get started. Not sure where the rest of you are, but it is a beautiful day out there looking out to the harbour. So, thank you for those of us who have joined tonight. As I say, we will get started shortly.
Tēnā koutou katoa, Ko Mark Reynolds tōku ingoa. Welcome this evening. I am the Manager Financial Stakeholder Relations for Auckland Council, which means that part of my role is to help council tell its financial and its growth story to Aucklanders and involve you in opportunities to have your say on our decision-making process for our annual plans. So, thanks again for taking this opportunity tonight to learn a little bit more about our proposed annual plan and the consultation process for it.
Our annual plan is an opportunity for Aucklanders, whether they own a home and pay rates on it, or even whether they are old enough to vote or not, to have their say on our annual plan. Our elected members love to hear from all of our communities and get your feedback before they make decisions on our annual plan.
It really makes a difference when people join an engagement like this, to hear about what is in our plans and to give their feedback. Gather your whānau around the screen, settle in for this information session on Auckland Council's proposed Annual Plan 2025/2026.
Just a reminder, the purpose of this session is for everyone to learn more about our proposals for the plan. It is not the opportunity to provide feedback. We will tell you how to do that, but there will be an opportunity to ask questions virtually about what is in the proposal, and of course, to hear from the Auckland Council finance staff about it.
If you are really keen to get started on the feedback, a reminder that the consultation began on February 28, and it goes to the 28th of March. Further information, including the feedback form, can be found at akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan.
There are a few housekeeping matters for tonight and some Zoom-etiquette. Firstly, this session is being recorded. It will be available on akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan in the next few days. All the members of the audience will have their cameras and microphones disabled but always assume that your camera or microphone is on. It is always a safe thing to assume.
If you are a member of the audience, you can ask questions via the Q and A function on Zoom. It is a little button, usually at the bottom of the screen with the question mark on it. But please note that due to time constraints, we might not be able to get through all questions. We will do our best to do that. If we do not do that this evening, we will include that on the akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan site.
Tonight's session provides an overview of our 2025/2026 annual plan, and that is a plan that focuses on delivering the second year of our Long-term Plan 2024-2034 (LTP), and the priorities in it.
Joining us in the discussion tonight are Councillor Greg Sayers, the Chair of the Budget Committee, Ross Tucker, our Group Financial Officer, Michael Burns, General Manager for Financial Strategy, and Hanna Woon, the Programme Manager responsible for the annual plan programme.
I would also like to welcome any elected members who might have joined us in the audience. I am sure they are looking forward to hearing what questions and comments there are. Thank you, councillors, if you are online, for listening to this feedback.
So, tonight's session - it will take about 90 minutes. The format is there will be a presentation about the annual plan, followed by the Q and A, where you will have the opportunity to ask questions using that Q and A function. You can start to pop some questions in now if you have already got them. Remember that there is that limited amount of time, so brief questions are always helpful.
To help you understand about this plan, just remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question. Any questions at all you have, look forward to hearing those. Enough of me, I would like to invite Councillor Sayers just to give some opening remarks now.
Voice: Councillor Greg Sayers
Oh, great. Thank you very much, Mark, for that wonderful introduction. It is very helpful, and kia ora everybody, my name is Greg Sayers, Chair of the Budget Committee. I represent the Rodney Ward up north - it is my ward area.
Look, first of all, just thank you for being so interested in having your voice heard. Tonight is about getting your questions answered, and for you to actually take the time to join us here to ask your questions, is so much appreciated, because your voice does count.
Following these questions and the answers that you may get, you have got your opportunity to make your submissions. Obviously, those are not done tonight, but I would encourage you to either do them tonight after this session, or as soon as you can, because it is all taken in and it helps us make the right decision. The proposal, as it is now, can change if the voice of the people want changes in it, so please participate.
I just thought I would also perhaps just share a segment of the mayor's message, in the front of the annual plan. There is a message from the mayor, and I have just highlighted a couple of paragraphs which I would like to share with you if you have not read it already.
It says that the council remains focused on the performance of the organisation and getting a better value for ratepayers. The council agreed to reform the council-controlled organisations (CCOs) late last year, and the transition has begun.
Over the next year, Aucklanders will notice greater focus on delivery from the council and its remaining CCOs. While there are plenty of risks to manage in the following year, we must do everything we can to mitigate them within the existing budgets. This means we stick to our agreement of retaining the agreed rates increase to an average residential value of a 5.8 per cent rate increase.
The main proposal in the consultation material considers the way we fund destination marketing and other major events. To support our goal, discussions with Central Government are underway, and we would like to know your thoughts on the concept of a levy that would provide for a more equitable way to fund destination marketing and major events, instead of asking the ratepayers to pick up that tab.
Finally, in closing comments, the mayor says, "We want to hear your views."
Public submissions are an incredibly important part of this process and will help to inform future decision-making, so make sure you have your say. That is courtesy of Wayne Brown. As mentioned, the close-off date is 28 March.
Again, just really encourage you to have your say. As Mark mentioned, there are other councillors and local board members and perhaps members of the Independent Māori Board online, so they will be listening. They will not be asking questions, but they will be listening. Again, thank you very much for your participation. Your voice does count. Again, thank you so much for being here. I will just hand back to you, Mark.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thank you, Greg. Now we will have the Finance team just take you through a presentation about the consultation process and more details on the proposed annual plan. Just a reminder, put your questions through the Q and A function throughout this presentation.
I would now like to invite Michael Burns to just start us off on telling us about the annual plan.
Voice: Michael Burns
Kia ora, this evening we have got a presentation just to talk about the proposed annual plan for 2025-2026. I just want to thank Councillor Sayers for that introduction. Hopefully, he has not covered everything that I was going to say, but maybe that will just hurry me along a bit. Someone has got the slides?
[Video: Bold text against a bright blue square reads, 'Our proposed Annual Plan 2025/2026.' Below is text that says, 'We are getting on with delivering year two of our Long-term Plan 2024-2034'. In the centre of the slide is a cartoon person holding a semicircle sign with icons of Auckland’s landscape above a wavy blue banner with text that reads, 'We’re getting on with it'.]
[Video: Seven blue circles with cartoon icons are scattered in a circular shape around the cartoon person. Each bubble contains text that describes a key proposal for the 2025/2026 annual plan. Going in clockwise direction, the blue circle directly above the cartoon person has bold text that reads, 'strengthening the financial and physical resilience of Auckland' and fine text that says, '(see pages 6-7)'. Below the text is a cartoon figure lifting a barbell above its head.]
[Video: The second bubble contains bold text that reads, 'key LTP programmes across seven areas of investment' and fine text that says, '(see pages 10-11)'. Below the text are seven small multi-coloured bubbles in a semi-circle shape that show each key area of investment. The third bubble has bold text that reads, 'implementing fairer funding for local boards' next to fine text underneath that says, '(see page 17)'. Below the text are cartoon figures of two local board members holding scales with golden coins stacked on either side. The fourth bubble has bold text that reads, 'bed night visitor levy' and fine text underneath that says, '(see page 8)'. Below are cartoon illustrations of a bed and motel accommodation. The fifth bubble has bold text that reads, 'rates' and text underneath that says, 'a 5.8 per cent average residential rate increase (see pages 30-32)'. Below the text is a green arrow with a percentage sign pointing up and a red arrow with a percentage pointing down. The sixth bubble has bold text that reads, 'key capital projects' with fine text below that says, '(see pages 14-15)'. Under the text is a cartoon illustration of a person using a yellow excavator. The seventh bubble holds bold text that reads, 'delivering our vision' with fine text that reads '(see pages 4-5)'. Below the text is a cartoon illustration of Mayor Wayne Brown.]
[Voice; Michael Burns]
Budgeting at the council involves a huge effort once every three years to prepare a 10-year plan. In other years, we prepare an annual plan, and the core purpose of that is to identify any variance or changes from the long-term plan.
A key part of that preparation of the council budget is this public consultation process, so that, as Councillor Sayers said earlier, so that councillors, the local board members and the mayor can take the views of Aucklanders into account as they make some big budget decisions.
This year, the council is not proposing any significant changes from the long-term plan, and therefore, you will see a lot of this tagline focused on, 'getting on with it'. So, while we are not raising any big issues or challenges, we are still interested in your views on what we are proposing as we continue to deliver the vision of the long-term plan, which took into account so much public input last year.
Our proposed annual plan supports this vision by continuing to focus on:
- strengthening our resilience, particularly through the work of our recovery office
- delivering key programmes across all areas of investment, including transport, water, community, economic and cultural development - through delivering a $4 billion capital programme
- investing in assets such as roads and pipes and transport infrastructure across the city
- implementing a new fairer funding approach for our local boards, which looks to enable our boards to be more responsive to the needs of their communities. And then funding that through the setting and overall rates increase of, as Councillor Sayers said, a 5.8 percent for the average-value residential property for that 2025-2026 year.
We are also seeking views on a 'bed night' visitor levy that would be paid by visitors who stay in short stay accommodation, like hotels, motels and BnBs, that would fund major events, destination management and marketing activity. I will come back to that. Click to the next slide, please.
[Video: Against a white background are various illustrations and text showing the key focus areas being proposed of the annual plan. In the top-left corner is header text that reads, 'Progress with delivering the LTP', next to the 'We’re getting on with it' graphic. Below is header text that says, 'Auckland Future Fund' and an illustration of a hand dropping coins into a piggy bank labelled, 'Future Fund'.]
[Video: In the bottom-left corner is an illustration of a dollar sign surrounded by arrows and header text that says, 'Operating cost savings'. In the middle of the slide is a blue cartoon graphic of Auckland’s city landscape and people, including Mayor Wayne Brown swimming in a swimming pool. Header text reads, 'Improvements to our waterfront'. Below the graphic is header text that says, 'Capped $50-weekly public transport pass' with cartoon illustrations of a train, bus, ferry and people waiting at a bus stop. To the right of the cartoon illustration is header text that says, 'CCO reform' and the logos of Auckland Transport, Eke Panuku Development Auckland and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited.]
[Video: In the top-right corner is an illustration of two people standing next to a local boards sign and holding a scale with stacked gold coins. Bold header text reads, 'Fairer funding for local boards'. Below the text is a graphic of a hand cupping water drops and header text that says, 'Water reform'. In the bottom-right corner is an illustration of a green car and header text that says, 'Reducing corporate emissions'.]
[Voice: Michael Burns]
Given our theme is 'getting on with it', I just want to touch on some of the progress we have already made on the initiatives that were included in the long-term plan. These include:
- setting up the Auckland Future Fund as part of improving our financial resilience, which provides more sources of revenue and reduces how much we rely on rates to fund our plans
- the introduction of the capped $50-weekly public transport pass, which limits travel costs on public transport over any seven-day period
- opening up the city centre waterfront to Aucklanders, including the new pool down in the Viaduct
- making progress on introducing this new approach to funding our local boards, and
- getting on with achieving the savings targets that were set for the council and for the council group in the long-term plan.
This slide looks to show the annual plan focuses investment on areas in transport, water, and enabling our local boards to better respond to the needs of the community.
The proposed plan includes $5 billion of operating spending expenditure, and $4 billion of capital expenditure. That capital expenditure is building or buying new assets like roads and pipes and buildings, while the operating expenditure looks to deliver services through those assets, looking after those assets, but also direct services to the community, such as public transport services, maintaining parks, the staff in our libraries.
It also includes us paying to community organisations, and things like paying interest on the money the council has had to borrow.
[Video: Against a bright blue background with a dotted circle is bold header text that reads, 'Bed night visitor levy'. Below is a blue illustration of a bed and fine text that says, 'We welcome your views about introducing a bed night visitor levy paid by visitors who stay in short-stay commercial accommodation to fund major events and destination management and marketing activity'. ]
As I mentioned earlier, one of the key questions in this annual plan is about a proposed bed night visitor levy. A bed night visitor levy is paid by visitors who stay in short stay accommodation, like hotels, motels and BnBs. That money would be used to fund major events and destination management and marketing activity.
In our long-term plan, we said we would continue to fund cultural festivals and other significant community events. But without a bed night visitor levy, we would have a $7 million budget shortfall for the funding of major events, such as the ASB Classic, the Auckland Marathon, or the Auckland Writers Festival, from next year.
Introducing this levy will require Central Government to make legislative change. We continue to advocate to the Central Government to introduce this levy.
A levy of 2.5 to 3 percent paid by those who stay in short stay accommodations would raise around $27 million each year to fund those activities we have talked about. We continue to work with Central Government on this, and the views of Aucklanders through this consultation will really do a great job in helping inform that engagement with Central Government.
[Video: Against a bright blue background with a dotted circle, bold header text reads, 'Implementing fairer funding for local boards'. Below is fine text that states, 'This enables local boards to better respond to the need of their communities' with a graphic of two people standing next to a local board sign, each holding a scale with stacked coins.]
Local boards are responsible for the local services that strengthen Auckland's communities, including parks, environmental initiatives, libraries, pools, arts programmes, recreation centres, community halls, other community programmes and local events, as well as providing support for key local community groups.
The Governing Body, through the long-term plan, agreed on a new funding approach to local boards that will start from next year. This new approach moves the funding allocation from one based on history, i.e. the assets and services delivered in the area in the past, to one based on specific factors. And those factors are:
- population within that board
- deprivation levels, and also
- the size of the board in terms of land area.
This is intended to enable local boards to better respond to those needs of their communities.
Within this consultation document, and the material you can find on the website, you will see proposals for your local board area and what they see as the priorities. We really want to hear feedback on what you think of those and whether those priorities are right for your community.
[Video: Against a bright blue background with a dotted circle is bold header text that says, 'Rates'. Below is fine text that reads, 'An overall rates increase of 5.80 per cent for the average-value residential property for 2025/2026, or around $223 a year ($4.29 a week). This is in line with what we said in the LTP'. Under the fine text is a green arrow with the percentage symbol pointing up and a red arrow with a percentage symbol pointing down.]
So, rates. To pay for this planned investment, the proposal sticks with the rates increase that was set in the long-term plan. This means a proposed overall rates increase of 5.8 percent for the average-value residential property for the 2025/2026 year.
For that average property, this comes to around a $223 increase for this year, or an increase of $4.29 per week.
It is worth noting that we are in the middle of undertaking our three yearly property revaluation, which will take effect from next year. The rates increases for individual properties will depend on how the value of each property changes in relation to the overall change in property values.
Just a reminder that the way rates are set is that it is a sharing mechanism, right? The costs of rates are shared amongst the people of Auckland, the businesses and the properties in Auckland, based on a valuation exercise.
The final valuation rating for each property will be available later in the year. There are some other changes to rates, fees and charges that you can find more information about, like I said, on the website or in the consultation materials that are available at our libraries and service centres.
I just want to hand over to Hanna now, and she will take you through the process from here. Thank you.
[Video: A large yellow speech bubble with bold text that reads 'AK Have Your Say' on a white square background.]
Voice: Hanna Woon
Thank you, Michael. While there are not any big issues, as I mentioned before, and changes to our annual plan, there is still plenty to have your say on. Our consultation document includes a feedback form with some specific questions for your consideration. There are five questions in total for Aucklanders, and you can respond to any of them that resonate with you.
[Video: Against a white background is bold header text accompanied by a blue right-pointing arrow that reads, 'Your feedback'. Below, fine text that says, '(all questions are optional)'. In the top-right corner is a yellow speech bubble with the text, 'AK Have Your Say'. Below the blue bold header text is more text that reads, 'Question 1: Our overall plan', and fine text arranged in paragraphs and bullet points that says, 'Our proposed Annual Plan 2025/2026 builds on our Long-term Plan 2024-2034 (LTP). The annual plan focuses on getting on with strengthening the financial and physical resilience of Auckland, while investing where it is needed most to manage growth. In 2025/2026, that includes prioritising investment in: transport, water and fairer funding for local communities. It sets out the proposed way to pay for services and investments, including the 5.8 per cent rates increase for the average-value residential property which is in line with the LTP, and additional debt to fund $4 billion of capital expenditure.']
[Video: Below the paragraph text and bullet points is italic text that says, 'For more information, read Part one (pages 5-15) of the consultation document'. Bold header text that asks, 'What is your opinion on our proposed annual plan?' is followed by five blue check boxes and text that span the slide. From left to right, the check boxes read, 'Support all', 'Support most', 'Do not support most', 'Do not support any' and 'I don’t know'. At the bottom is a long horizontal black line that spans the slide’s width, next to fine text on top that says, 'Tell us why'.]
Question one is about our overall plan, focusing on improving Auckland's financial and physical resilience.
As mentioned earlier, the plan prioritises investment in transport, water and ferry funding for local communities. To support these initiatives, the plan includes a 5.8 percent rate increase for the average-value residential properties, which aligns with the long-term plan, and additional debt to fund $4 billion of capital expenditure.
We would like your opinion and your views on our plan.
[Video: Against a white background is a blue right-pointing arrow and bold header text that reads, 'Question 2: Destination management and major events'. Fine paragraph text says, 'Attracting visitors and securing, promoting and delivering major events are vital to Auckland being a dynamic and exciting city. In our Long-term Plan 2024-2034, we said we would continue to fund cultural festivals and other significant community events. However, without a bed night visitor levy, there will be a $7 million budget shortfall for funding of major events that are expected to attract visitor expenditure, such as the ASB Classic, Auckland Marathon and Auckland Writers Festival, from the 2025/2026 financial year. We continue to advocate to central government to introduce this levy. A bed night visitor levy of 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent paid by those in short-stay accommodation, will raise around $27 million each year to fund even more destination management, marketing and major events activities in Auckland. A bed night visitor levy requires central government legislative change and they have yet to agree to introduce this legislation. We continue to work with central government on this and your views will help inform this work.']
[Video: Below the paragraph text is italic text that reads, 'For more information, read page 8 of the consultation document and section four of the supporting information. Text above four blue check boxes asks, 'Do you support a bed night visitor levy paid by those in short-stay commercial accommodation, to fund destination management, marketing and major events activities?'. From left to right, text reads, 'Support', 'Do not support', 'Other' and 'I don’t know'. At the bottom of the slide is text that says, 'Tell us why' above a long horizontal black line that spans the slide’s width.]
Question two is about the bed night visitor levy, as Michael mentioned earlier.
In our long-term plan, we did say that we will continue to fund cultural festivals and significant budget shortfall to fund significant events like the ASB Classic, Auckland Marathon and Auckland Writers Festival.
I would like to stress again that this bed night levy requires Central Government legislative changes, and we continue to advocate to the Central Government for this change. The levy is about 2.5 percent to 3 percent, paid by those in short-term stay accommodation. If this goes ahead, we will be able to raise around $27 million each year to fund full destination management and marketing programmes.
We would like to hear your views about this.
[Video: Against a white background is a blue right-pointing arrow and bold header text that reads, 'Question 3: Changes to other rates, fees and charges' followed by italic text that says, 'For more information, read Part three (page 30-32) of the consultation document'. Bold header text asks, '3A. What do you think of the waste management proposal?' next to fine paragraph text that says, 'Apply the refuse targeted rate to residential and lifestyle properties in Franklin and Rodney to pay for council’s rubbish collection service, replacing the current system of purchasing rubbish bags'. Below are four blue check boxes. From left to right, the check box text reads, 'Support', 'Do not support', 'Other' and 'I don’t know'. Below the check boxes is bold header text that asks, '3B. Would you like to comment on this or the other rates, fees and charges proposals?'. Fine text that says, '(Please be clear which proposal you are talking about) follows, along with a long horizontal black line that spans the width of the slide.]
Question number three is about specific rates and charges for Franklin and Rodney areas. As part of this annual plan, we are proposing to apply the refuse targeted rate to residential and lifestyle properties in Franklin and Rodney, which will replace the current system of purchasing rubbish bags.
If you live in this area, we would like to know what you think about our proposed rates.
For question 3B, we would like you to provide us feedback on any other rates, fees, and charges proposed. A refuse targeted rate, in general, refers to a specific charge added to a property rates bill that funds the household rubbish collection services. We would like to hear your views about those.
[Video: Against a white background is a blue right-pointing arrow and bold header text that reads, 'Question 4: Local board priorities', followed by italic text that says, 'For more information, read Part two (pages 16-26) of the consultation document'. Bold header text that asks, '4A. Which local board does your feedback relate to?' is below, alongside a long horizontal black line separating another bold header with text that asks, '4B. What do you think of our proposals for your local board area in 2025/2026?'. Below the header are four blue check boxes with text. From left to right, the check box text reads, 'Support all', 'Support most', 'Do not support most', 'Do not support an' and 'I don’t know'. Beneath is fine text that says, 'To view local board priorities, see pages 16-26 of the consultation document' and 'Tell us why', and four long horizontal black lines that span the slide’s width.]
[Video: Below the lines is a blue right-pointing arrow and bold header text that says, 'Question 5: Other feedback'. Smaller bold text asks, 'Do you have any other comments on the Annual Plan 2025/2026?' followed by the text, 'Do you have any other feedback, including the Tūpuna Maunga Authority Operational Plan 2025/2026 (page 33 of the consultation document)?'. At the bottom of the page is text that reads, 'Tell us why' next to a long horizontal black line that spans the width of the slide.]
Question four is about local board priorities. As mentioned earlier, this is the first year that we use the new fairer funding approach. The local board will determine the priorities to be considered. We will encourage you to look in your local board respective areas on the priorities and activities and give us feedback on those.
Question five is about anything else in the consultation that you would like to give feedback for.
There is in the consultation the Tūpuna Maunga Authority Operational Plan, for which you can provide feedback to us as well.
[Video: Against a grey background with Auckland Council’s logo is bold header text with a blue arrow pointing downwards that reads, 'Consultation timeline'. Below is a light blue grid in the shape of a wave with a horizontal timeline. On the left of the timeline is bold text that reads, 'Consultation with the public' and the dates, '28 February – 28 March 2025'. Below is the text, 'This is when you can have your say'. In the middle of the timeline is bold text that says, 'Deliberations' followed by more text that reads, 'The Governing Body and local boards will consider public feedback'. On the right of the timeline is bold text that says, 'Adoption of Annual Plan 2025/2026' and 'By 26 June 2025'. Below is the text, 'Governing Body adopts the final Annual Plan 2025/2026'.]
The consultation timeline opens from 28 February to 28 March. The closing time is around 11:59PM.
The Governing Body and the local boards will consider your feedback and will then adopt the final annual plan late in June.
There are plenty of ways that you can have your say. You can go online at akhaveyoursay.nz, phone our services or visit your local libraries or service centre.
As we mentioned before, there are not a lot of challenges for this annual plan, but there is still plenty to have your say on.
We just want to enforce that we are getting on with the commitments we have in our long-term plan.
That is the end of our slide. I'll hand back to Mark.
[Video: Against a white background is a large blue circle with header text that reads 'Patai?']
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thank you, Hanna, and thank you, Mike. Interestingly, a plan that apparently is not raising any big issues, but nevertheless, there are $9 billion of spending in it.
I am sure there is plenty for you to ask questions about. Just a reminder to use the Q and A function to do that, we will be getting to those questions shortly. Just before we do that, though, we have got online tonight, Ross Tucker, who is the Group Chief Financial Officer at Auckland Council.
I’ll just invite Ross to say a few words. If you would like to talk briefly, Ross, about the consultation, the feedback we receive, and how it plays a part in the process of informing the final annual plan.
Voice: Ross Tucker
Okay, thanks. Thanks, Mark. Thanks, team. Kia ora everyone, I am Ross Tucker, as Mark said, the Group Chief Financial Officer.
This budget consultation process is important for the council. This is a regular process. We do this every year. If you have provided feedback before, then welcome back. We like regular customers. If you are new, then I promise it is a pretty painless process.
You can go online and provide feedback. We do value that feedback. It is very important for framing the advice and the information we get back to our elected members and the local boards in terms of making local decisions. And the mayor and councillors around the big-picture rates, how we fund events and all those other things. It does inform a very important part of the process.
We do have people that go through and analyse all the submissions, and we work laboriously to make sure that we fairly reflect the outcome of what all that vast bulk of feedback is telling us.
As the team have outlined, we did a big exercise last year, what we call our long-term plan. That was the biggest consultation we have had, the most feedback, some big issues like grappling with how do we deal with a growing city, need for infrastructure, significant challenges in water infrastructure, all those things, while trying to keep rates and charges affordable.
It is a giant balancing act. What we ended up with is a plan with $39 billion of capital investment and $4 billion investment of that is this year that we are talking about, plus $5 billion of operating costs - the costs to maintain parks, run buses, and do all those things. It is a significant investment.
To pay for all that, we do have to have rates a bit higher than say, inflation or CPI (Consumers price index). That is the 5.8 percent. It is a big balancing act between making sure we have got the right investment and assets and services, while trying to keep rates affordable.
We do recognise that cost of living is high. So, we do not propose a 5.8 percent rates increase lightly.
We acknowledge that some of the other councils, urban councils, are facing double-digit rates increases and are struggling with infrastructure challenges. We think we have got the balance right. We think we have got a great plan, at a regional level. We think we have got some great plans, at a local community level. But at the end of the day, it is not our money. It is the money of ratepayers and all of our other customers. So, we are really keen to hear from the people that are paying the bills about whether we have got our priorities right, and whether we are spending money on the right thing.
It is a very important process and do encourage you to all participate. As Mark said, this is not a year with lots of big issues. We have framed certain things. There are five questions there: the how we pay for events, and whether or not we pursue a bed night levy, is one of the bigger things.
But it is not just for us to ask the questions and say what we want to talk about. This is an opportunity for you to tell us, now, what do you want to see in the city? What are the priorities for you? Because there are not big issues, it creates lots of time and space to talk about whatever is on your mind.
So, please do not be constrained by what we have put down there. Look at the plans, look where the money is going, look at what we spend the money on. If you think we have got it right, great. Tell us. That is always good. If you think we should be spending the money differently, then that is always really useful information for us to report back to our mayor, councillors and local board members, as they make their decisions on where the money goes next financial year.
Thanks. Back to you, Mark.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thank you, Ross. There is a lot to take in. If you are wanting to see the annual plan and see the feedback form, akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan has a beautifully designed consultation document. There is also a lot of supporting information provided there if you are the sort of person that wants a lot more detail on it, so you can go there to get that.
Again, just a reminder, tonight is not necessarily, it is not about giving feedback. We are interested in your feedback, and if you happen to do that in the Q and A, we will record that. But this is more about questions about what is in the plan, or the process of consultation.
Anyway, with that in mind, we are getting some questions in, so I will put them to our panel.
Firstly, I think this is probably one for you, Mike. Maybe Ross might have something to say about it.
"In the plan, why is there so much more debt in our plan that just seems to keep increasing?" Perhaps, Mike, you would like to answer that about debt in the plan?
Voice: Michael Burns
No one likes talking about debt. Why is there so much debt in our plan? Auckland Council uses debt to finance our long-term assets. If you look at the plan information, at the council's balance sheet, you will see that Auckland Council has a huge amount of assets, and those assets deliver services over a really long period.
Pipes and roads can deliver assets for up to 100 years. It is not fair for us to charge those straight away from cash, and we use debt to spread that investment over the life of the asset in the period, where it delivers services for the community.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Great. Thank you, Mike. A little bit like me at home with my mortgage, which is funding the intergenerational use of our home, I think.
Another question here, this is about the bed night visitor levy. Long-ish question, so bear with me. In fact, a little bit of it goes into feedback.
"But what about charging small amounts for attending these activities instead of the bed night visitor levy, so that people who actually use them are contributing rather than people who might never attend a public event in Auckland? Is there any way we could use this to improve tourist opportunities and access?"
I think the question is more about the options that were looked at for the bed night visitor levy and where people could find more information about that in the plan. Is that something, Mike, that you could answer?
Voice: Michael Burns
Yes. Attached to our consultation material, we have supporting information. I luckily have it printed out, I am just flicking through.
Within that, we included a lot of information on the advice that we provided to the Governing Body when they made those decisions - that talks all about other ways in which we could fund those services and the different options that were presented at that time. So, other options are included there.
There was a follow-up question I note around, "do other cities have bed taxes?"
This material does talk about cities in both the States and in Europe. I think they were asking specifically about Australia, and a quick bit of Googling tells me that the Victorian State Government passed an Act last year and introduced a 7.5 per cent tax from the start of this year.
If we trust Google, that is what that tells me. But no, many cities throughout Europe and North America, you will definitely see bed taxes on top of your hotel bill.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
There are a few questions about bed night visitor levy, it might pay just to stick with some of those at the moment. By the way, page 165, Section 4 of the supporting information is where you will find that information.
"For the bed night visitor levy, is the bed night visitor levy planned to be put on bed and breakfasts, or just hotels and motels?"
Voice: Michael Burns
That would apply to all short-stay accommodations. That includes those that would be booked through an internet service, such as Airbnb, or BookaBach, or something like that. All commercially run short-stay accommodation is captured there.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
I am going to keep running with the bed night visitor levy question theme because there is a comment to ask question, noting that the bed night visitor levy, "is it right that it will not catch all visitors? I.e. visitors who stay with family, in which case, is it the most appropriate way to capture those who might be coming here for tourist activities?"
Voice: Michael Burns
You are correct that it will not capture people who come to stay with family. We acknowledge that it is not perfect in that sense, but it is a good way of targeting those who are visiting Auckland.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
But still, that would be the feedback that we would love to hear through this process. So, this question, I am not sure who might want to answer this one. It is about the pool at Karanga Plaza that you mentioned earlier.
"With the Tepid Baths already in the area, do we need that Harbour pool?"
Voice: Ross Tucker
I am happy to answer that. Yeah, I mean, I am not familiar. The council does do lots of work analysing who uses our pool, what the demand is, and all those things driven by a population. There are some areas where there are lots of people and not that many pools. In the city centre, in the city of Auckland, you have had huge growth in number of apartments there. I am sure in any metric of pools per head of population, the city centre is a bit low. But I think probably more importantly, more rather what we have heard from the public, is very strongly that they want greater use of the waterfront.
For too long, the waterfront has a lot of it has been tied up with ports, things behind the red fence. The environment has not necessarily been - we are in a great urban environment. There has been a lot of work upgrading Quay Street, lots of work in the Wynyard Quarter area. The urban environment has improved and improved. Aucklanders have told us loud and clear they want better urban environments, more facilities. I see that pool as one part of giving Aucklanders what they want, which is they want their waterfront back and they want better amenities, and better access to them.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Ross. While you are there, perhaps a question about rates.
"How do our rates increases compare with other regions?"
Voice: Ross Tucker
I have not looked at what others are comparing right at the moment. Often, we tend to be doing our annual budget a little bit earlier than some of the others. So, they will be all at different various stages. But what we do know is over the last few years, we have seen many other councils, particularly the urban ones, with double-digit rates increases. They have had to play catch-up.
Some of them may have small rates increase this year because they have had large ones for maybe three years in a row. But overall, that means quite a lift in rates over that period.
We think overall, and over time, what the rates increases we have got compare favourably to other councils. I am sure there are some that are a little bit less this year than us, potentially, but by and large, we have got pretty affordable rates increases compared to others, given the scale of the infrastructure, $4 billion of capital investment, $9 billion of total spend – that does not come cheap, so we have to find a way to pay for it.
It is all about the balance in it. We know it is tough, we know cost of living is high, but we think we have got that about right.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Following up on rates as well, this is a question from someone who has had a look at the consultation document, seeing that there are some comments in there about the impact that revaluations might have on rates. The question is,
"With the revaluation, does that mean that my rates could move even higher than the 5.8 per cent?"
Voice: Ross Tucker
The 5.8 per cent is an average, so that is what the property with the average-value would have. There is movement around that.
When we do a revaluation, that means the individual properties will face rate increases that are higher or lower than that, depending on how the value moves. We are currently now working through the latest reval process.
We are revaluing all properties across the city, 600,000 rating units, with a valuation date of 1 May last year. It is not current dates, and it is not necessarily going to be a perfect estimate, or even a good estimate of what things might sell for today, or next month or the months after.
It is about a fair assessment of what did all those rating units, what would they all have sold for at 1 May last year? What that does is it looks at the movements from three years earlier. So, if your property has moved in line with the average, you can expect to receive a 5.8 per cent rates increase. If your property has gone up by more than that average, or gone down by more than that - a bigger movement, either above or below the average, essentially, in simple terms, if you have got a very high valuation movement, you can expect the high rates increase. If you have got a lower revaluation movement, or a large decrease, you could expect to have a lower rates increase. And 5.8 per cent would be how it would be average.
The 5.8 per cent is set by the budget requirement that we have, and what it means for individual properties, it starts with that average, and then we work out the distribution around that based on how individual properties move.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Ross. This is a question, it is a little bit about rates, but I think also about spending, and noting some of the changes we have had in inflation and just where unemployment is and the state of the economy. It is asking,
"Can Auckland Council, given that, look to more sustainably reduce its debt profile and its expenses? What can Auckland Council do about its spending, its expenses, and its level of debt more so than in this plan?"
Voice: Ross Tucker
That is a great question. So, we are putting together our long-term plan last year, looking at spending, looking at how we can be efficient, where we can find savings, was very much a key part of it.
Our mayor and councillors, the Chair of our Budget Committee, Councillor Greg Sayer, as you heard from before, have been very clear around pushing for how do we find savings, to be as efficient as possible. Baked into this plan, we have got some large savings targets.
In the previous long-term plan, the organisation committed to finding $90 million per annum of operating savings. So, delivering all the same services for $90 million less cost each year, and that is ongoing and permanent.
In this long-term plan, we have added over and above that. We have added in further savings, which increases 40, 50, 60 every year it increases.
We have got some large savings targets in there, that we are, staff are very busy trying to figure out how do we do get smarter, cheaper, faster in terms of paying for services. That is a key way that we look to try to get the rates as low as possible through those savings.
We have got some ambitious targets that we are working through. In terms of debt, part of that is looking at, as Michael said earlier, debt is largely driven by investment in new assets, and we are increasing our asset assets to $83 billion through this plan. Debt will go up to about $15.5 billion. There is an increase in debt, but there is a much bigger increase in assets.
There is a choice about what we invest in. We are very focused on how we get the most value for that capital investment and we have commenced some work looking at how can we revise some of our procurement processes, our business case processes, how we work with consultants, how we work with the suppliers - try some innovative type approaches with going to market.
We have got a big programme underway that our mayor and councillors are very focused on about how we deliver some of those capital projects better and cheaper, and all of that will help our debt come down and really can help moderate some of those demands for rate increases over time. So yes, we are very focused on those things.
There is no magic bullet. Council is facing large cost pressures. Council has a lot of infrastructure to catch up on and lots of infrastructure in place for a growing city, and someone has to pay for that somehow.
We can, and we do, work with Central Government around taxpayer funding and other funding sources. But at the end of the day, someone has to pay. We are doing everything we can to minimise the costs to get maximum efficiency. But the reality is, if we want to invest in the city, more rates, more debt is an inevitable part of that.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Ross. Just a reminder to anyone listening in, the annual plan consultation that runs, it is open now, runs until 28 March. It closes at 11.59pm, so do not leave it until midnight. You will miss out. Go to akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan where you can read about the consultation. You can do your feedback online there as well.
Michael, I think this could be a question for you, it is perhaps coming from someone from a specific part of the city. It is asking,
"Does this budget improve the water quality of our eastern suburb beaches, i.e. Kohimarama, Mission Bay and St Heliers?"
Voice: Michael Burns
It is quite specific. Yes. I cannot talk about that area specifically, but we do have a programme of works that was brought in a while back that we fund by a targeted rate, the Water Quality Targeted Rate. That water quality target rate is delivering a programme of works across the whole city, the whole region, focused on improving that water quality. And yes, the eastern isthmus is one of the key areas that is called out in that targeted rate.
For the next year, sorry, my copy of the information says that $52 million worth of capital expenditure from that targeted rate to be spent next year over the whole region on water quality improvements. But it does say, including eastern isthmus, and you are the first on the list there, so no doubt getting some attention. So yes, I suppose what we can say is that the programme, the plan, does include investment in improving the water quality of our harbours and streams, and that the eastern isthmus is a key part of that.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
From one end of the spectrum to the other, to a very generic question, Mike, this is about climate change. The question is,
“What does this annual plan say about investing in climate change?”
Voice: Michael Burns
I suppose in this case we go back to overall message of getting on with it and getting on with what was in the long-term plan. The council's long-term plan stuck with its commitment to climate action. That looks back to specific programmes across the spectrum of what council does. But one of the key ones is another targeted rate, it is actually our Climate Action Transport Targeted Rate. Work that has been done in that space, particularly to reduce emissions across our transport network, including moving to electric buses and electric ferries. That is the climate mitigation side.
Another part of our focus on climate change, unfortunately, needs to be adaptation. The council continues its work, particularly in response to the events of early 2023 storm events. There is a lot of funding in this long-term plan for the continued purchase of properties where there is an intolerable risk to life. Separately, investment in infrastructure solutions that look to reduce the prospect of flooding in similar events.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Mike. Some very long-term intergenerational strategic issues there, which is a nice segue for me to remind everyone that we are interested in feedback for this plan from all Aucklanders, not just those who are old enough to vote. In fact, specifically, we do want to hear from those who are too young to vote as well.
The activities and services of Auckland Council, they affect all Aucklanders. Councillors are really keen to hear feedback from as many of your whānau as possible on this. Please take the time, I know it is a time and trouble to give your feedback on this plan, it is really valued by councillors as they make decisions on the final plan.
A question here, this is about rural community, says:
"How will the plan affect rural landowners, especially rates on farm and growing land? What we have been told applies to urban ratepayers."
In the eyes of this question here. So, how does the plan affect rural landowners, especially rates on farms and growing land? Ross, maybe that is one you can talk to?
Voice: Ross Tucker
I will do my best. I guess on the spend side, there is, I do not know the specifics, but there will be information in the consultation materials around some of the spend in the more outer areas of the region.
There are things like investment and road sealing. Those things were confirmed in the long-term plan and those things continue on the rates side of things.
The 5.8 per cent rates increases are the average for residential ratepayers. Business ratepayers will pay a bit more through that.
Then there is a special category of farm and lifestyle properties. Where exactly those end up will all depend a little bit on the revaluation exercise I talked about previously. That recent revaluation exercise will determine what the movements and increases, decreases in residential properties are versus farmer lifestyle properties.
Some of the rates, a reasonable determination of the rates paid by individual farm lifestyle properties, will depend on how they have moved compared to residential. Equally, that will depend on which rural area we are talking about. Even within an area, that will depend on specific movements for specific properties. So, the general principles apply.
The general overall rates revenue has not changed from the long-term plan. The 5.8 per cent represents a certain quantum of revenue that we are collecting. How that is shared out between the rates that different properties pay will depend on that valuation exercise.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Ross. Another question while you are there, this is about the CCO reform, it says:
"How will the amalgamation of Auckland Transport into Auckland Council affect the rates rise, given that significant cost savings could be realised with Auckland Transport incorporated into Auckland Council?"
Voice: Ross Tucker
That is an interesting question. I guess, first of all, there is not a proposal to fully amalgamate Auckland Transport to Auckland Council. What has happened is, a couple of things that have happened at around about the same time. One is that Auckland Council has looked at CCO reform, how can we think differently around how we work with CCOs, what is the work of the CCOs, how are things placed, how decisions are made between CCOs and the core Auckland Council?
The council has made some decisions on some CCOs. At the same time, there are some legislative barriers. Auckland Transport is a statutory CCO at the moment, it is set on legislation. It has certain roles, responsibilities that cannot be varied without legislative change. But late last year, the government said it is going to have a look at that, and it has proposed making some changes. That will require, essentially, there to be some kind of transport CCO in Auckland. But the scope of what that does will be up to the council to determine. That is to be determined.
Certain roles around how decisions are made around controlling roads and the planning of roads, some of those decisions will become a responsibility of Auckland Council.
There are definitely proposals from government to move some of that planning, functionality and responsibility. There are some options around what functions may come across.
Through the work on the CCO reform, what we are largely focused on is how we deliver those functions to get the best outcomes for Aucklanders. A lot of the work would still need to continue if we have got people running buses and trains, people thinking about designing and building foot paths or road upgrades. A lot of that work still has to happen. We cannot have stormwater planners or parks people doing that. We will need to have a lot of those existing roles and people doing that work so it is how we are structured and how we are organised. There could well be some efficiencies of moving some things together.
Although that said, we are already going after those kinds of efficiencies through another piece of work in our long-term plan, which is our move to 'group shared services'. A lot of the back-office functions - thinking about IT and data, customer service - all those things, HR systems, we are already looking at how we can work together across the group and centralise some of those things, and some of the savings targets I mentioned earlier, some of those will be achieved by working closer together.
If we amalgamate, we still get those benefits. As I said, it will not be amalgamation as such, but as we move things a lot, moving some functions may give some efficiencies. It may have some additional costs, and it is all for early days. I think the reality is these things will take time to work through. It is tied up in legislation. There are some big decisions to be made. It is really hard to see that stuff having a big impact on rates increase for next year. What it might mean further out in terms of rates, who knows? We have to wait and see. But the intention is that we will work better. We will have a better approach, more joined-up approach, hopefully a better consideration of land-use planning with transport planning, different types of infrastructure working better together. There should be some great outcomes for the city. What it means for rates and finances, I think it is to be determined.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Ross. Clearly progressing a lot of significant changes there.
Just a reminder, thanks everyone for being on this webinar. But if you want to learn even more about the annual plan, there are a lot of events that are happening across the region where you can stop by and talk with team members and learn a little bit more.
Those events are happening right across the city, for example, the Pasifika Festival, I think the Papakura Parkfest, the Warkworth AMP show in Rodney.
For all of the details of those events that are happening over this part of the next month, again, visit akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan to find out about an event happening in your area. Lovely segue, because there is a lot in this plan about local boards and their priorities.
So, Michael, this might be a question that you can answer, and I guess it is really about the process. The question is,
"How will local boards decide their priorities that are proposed in the plan?"
Voice: Michael Burns
Thanks, Mark. Our local boards have been considering their priorities for their communities and for the investment they make in their communities. Within the consultation material, we can see each local board has laid out what their priorities are for next year and the key projects they want to invest in.
They are looking for your feedback on those priorities. So really encourage people to get into the material, either in a hard copy or online, and look into your local board.
There is a handy map at the start, which helps me find out which board I am in. Then look at those for your board, but also the neighbouring boards around you, maybe the board where your workplace is, and look at what their priorities are and provide that feedback. The local boards then will consider that feedback. It is all wrapped up and delivered back to them, all of the submissions. Then they will make decisions later through April, May.
The final annual plan will include full individual budgets for each local board, what we call local board agreements. There are agreements between the boards and the Governing Body for funding and what that funding will be used for.
Voice: Michael Burns
Thanks for that, Mike. Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Local Board represented here. No need for everybody to state their own local board. There's a question here, actually a couple of questions. I might bracket them together, and maybe Ross, if you start off on it. The first question I will ask both. The first question is:
“In Auckland, we have a lot of people suffering greater hardship than others. Does the plan address this?”
Then there's a more specific question:
“What does this plan do about homelessness? How does it address greater hardship that some have than others? And what does it do about homelessness?”
Voice: Ross Tucker
Okay, that's a great question. Mike might have a bit more detail. We are going to have a way to look to find that. The council has had a range of initiatives in the homeless space: supporting the City Mission with their home ground development, a count of homeless people, and there is a range of services and entities that the council has supported over many years. There is a range of ongoing things - this annual budget continues to work in that space.
Through the long-term plan, one of the focuses has been on that equity lens, with a sense of realising that there are some parts of the city doing it really tough, and how do we make sure that we invest where it is most needed? We cannot do everything. We are financially constrained, so we cannot invest everywhere. So how do we make sure we do deal with some of the equity concerns? There are a number of ways that we tackle that. One of them is through the local board fairer funding process. Previously, the money that was given to local boards, to local services, was a function, really, of the legacy budget, so back from 2010 and before. It was based off what assets were in place - decisions made over 15 years ago determines where the money goes. That is determined, that is not fair and equitable, and there are some communities that have been underfunded. They have less assets, and because they have less assets, they get less money to run those assets.
So, you get this perpetuating cycle of less and less money over time. Some of those areas, Manurewa, is one example where they have not had the funding that others have had. So, what the fairer funding model does is move away from funding based off the assets that are there, to funding based on a formula. The formula is driven largely by population, but equally a little bit by land area and also by deprivation. There is a social deprivation index - in areas that are more socially deprived, they score higher and they get a bit of extra funding. The local board fairer funding model will redirect from funding quite deliberately into those areas that have had less funding in the past.
The other thing I just call out is there is one segment of the community being really severely affected by the severe weather events of 2023. The council, along with the government is spending an awful lot of money buying out properties that have been categorised as category three. That means properties have been hit hard by the flood, landslide events and there is an intolerable risk to life for those properties that cannot be mitigated through infrastructural solutions. The council is spending a lot of money to buy those communities out. We have got people there, we have got a recovery office, we have got community navigators - people that are out there helping those people who are doing it really tough. These are just some of the ways that we are thinking about investing where it is needed most.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Mike, was there anything specific you wanted to add. I do not know, the homelessness question?
Voice: Michael Burns
I think Ross has really covered that. But just for clarity, the long-term plan, and we continue to the fundings that were in the long-term plan - it did commit yearly funding of half a million dollars for each of the next three years to support the council's efforts in responding to homelessness. But as Ross said, that is part of a bigger network of both things that the council is doing in this space, but also of teams and other organisations that we work with.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks, Mike. For those listening at home, LTP, long-term plan. That is something that was finalised last year. This annual plan is the second year of that long-term plan. If you are wanting to read into the detail of our planning process, reading the long-term plan alongside this annual plan is a great thing to do. Just in terms of things that happened before, Mike, you might want to talk to this a little bit. The question is:
"What happened about all of the water reform that the government scrapped? Is this affecting your budget?"
Voice: Michael Burns
Yes, it is, to be honest. But in a very positive way. I think what we have seen, and this came through in time for the long-term plan, and was included in it, was the change that legislation has gone through that enables from 1 July, this year coming, that Watercare will no longer be included in the council's debt provision. The council can no longer provide financial support to Watercare. What that means for Watercare itself is that they can leverage their balance sheet up to where a utility operator like them would normally be. That is allowing Watercare to step up the level of investment they can make in both renewing, looking after the water networks, and also expanding them to support the growth of the city. They can step up their level of investment without needing some dramatic price increases that were otherwise expected. That is a big change that is coming in and was included within our long-term plan. Ross, do you have anything to touch on with that?
Voice: Ross Tucker
No, that is correct. It enables them to get on with the investment that is needed with a water price increase, I believe, around 7.3 per cent for next year. The price increase could have been a lot bigger - it could have been double digits, it could have been 20 per cent, that order of magnitude, in order to meet debt metrics because they were tied together with the council budget. It is a very positive outcome having it in place for Auckland, getting it in place for the last for LTP.
It all comes into effect on 1 July. There is a lot of work to make that happen, to make that debt separation a reality. The council will be really clever with Watercare. Everything is on track for that to proceed successfully. So, it is a great story. The water reform has been, has happened in Auckland, with what is really quite a minimal change. It is mainly a financial change. There is no change to the ownership - Auckland Council remains a 100 per cent shareholder of Watercare. There is no privatisation here. There are some economic regulations. The government will have a greater say around how prices are set and making sure that the prices are right, that they are not excessive. They are what is needed to invest in the water infrastructure and no more. So, water reform - it has arrived in Auckland. It is a good news story. The challenge for the government is what do they do for the rest of the country, that is where the government's focus now is, - how do they create solutions? There might be different solutions in other regions, but Auckland is ahead of the game in the space, we are really pleased to be in that situation.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Clearly, water is a big part of the annual plan. Water, wastewater - you mentioned stormwater as well in the work that is being done following the storms. Another big area, of course, is transport. This is a doozy of a question:
"Is this annual plan going to sort out all the roadworks across Auckland?"
Do you want to tackle that one, Ross?
Voice: Ross Tucker
Okay, that is a great question. Sort out all the roadworks - that is kind of an interesting question, what do you mean by that? Do we want to invest more and fix more roads, or do we want to stop that and get rid of traffic cones and have this disruption?
We recognise that disruption is not great, it can have a big impact on businesses, it can slow people down - but equally, not investing in the upgrades and fixing the potholes has implications as well. It is always a bit of a challenge. I do know that. I can say that over the summer, there has been a big effort over the summer to get in there and do as much on the roads as possible over the summer period, particularly school holidays, when universities are out, etcetera. Auckland Transport have called that the 'big summer road reno', or whatever they have called it to try to do a lot of it. You will have seen a lot of stuff over the summer. That is about trying to get it out of the way all at once. There will be ongoing work, and disruption is part of that.
Auckland Transport - it has been given the message and it has received it around trying to minimise the disruption and trying to minimise unnecessary tying up the road for things that are not essential. It might be where people are doing work on upgrading a footpath or access to things, or doing building projects next to the road - there is a bit of a strong focus around how we stop the road closures during peak time. We will do that at absolute minimum and to get equipment, people, workers, vehicles out of the way at the peak time.
There is a big focus, what can we do to minimise the disruption? What can we do to minimise tying up the road for things? The key philosophy there is your roads are for movement. How do we spend more to keep lanes open, more of the time, to help people get through? Unfortunately, as we improve things and fix things, there is inevitably some disruption, but there is a strong focus to try to minimise that and mitigate it wherever possible.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Ross. I can see in the consultation document, there are actually a couple of pages there outlining some of the major projects of which many are transport projects for next year, and also some detail on what some of those transport projects are. We have had water, we have had transport. Now there is a question on waste services collection, somewhat specific. It is about the waste collection charge for the Rodney area, and it says:
"Does this bring Rodney into line with the rest of Auckland regarding waste removal charges?"
Michael, is that one you want to tackle?
Voice: Michael Burns
Yeah, sure. I am just flicking to it here. Yes, what we are looking to do is to bring in standardised waste management collections into the areas, the old Rodney and Franklin District Councils, so that residential and lifestyle properties in those areas - they will get charged a full standard refuse targeted rate for the first time from 2025/2026. They will no longer use other private services, but will be funded as a council service. It says here that for Franklin, that will be based on our 12-month service. So brought in on 1 July. For Rodney, you would be charged a slightly reduced percentage because the scheduled start date is September 2025.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Mike. I think we are learning a lot about the breadth of council services that are actually in this annual plan, so great to hear that.
There is a question here. It mentions that last time there was a sale of airport shares, as mentioned in the plan.
"In this plan, are there any plans for asset sales at all?"
I think maybe, Michael, it is a reasonably specific question. Are there any?
Voice: Michael Burns
There are no specific asset sales. Sorry, there are no specific asset sales of the type that were included in that last plan, like an airport share sale, in this consultation. However, the council does have ongoing programmes of selling assets it does not need. Generally, that is properties that have been bought and are not delivering, bought over the years. Maybe, leftover property from a transport project or something like that that is not delivering key council services. The council looks to sell those and use that funding to help reduce its debt burden. So, yes, the council will continue to sell surplus land and assets, but there are no big asset sales, such as the airport sale that went through late last year.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Mike. There is another question here, it is about the process. Ross, I think you did address it a bit when you spoke earlier, but it's asking for the annual Plan and when it will be finalised. How will the feedback actually be included in the process?
Voice: Ross Tucker
Great question. So, what we do is a number of things. First of all, there are opportunities to have events, we call them 'Have Your Say' events, where people can meet with council officers and members face-to-face and share their thoughts. We do make all the written submissions available to elected members so that you can go through and look at each and every one of them, which is great. But there are a lot of them, so it becomes a challenging task.
The other thing we do is we analyse. We code those submissions, we put them into a big database, we look at the key trends, we look at how many people respond in different ways, count them all up, look at the demographics for the people that have responded in different ways and summarise key themes. We do word searches and look at what are the key themes people have raised, what points come up over and over and make that very clear. We put together a full analysis pack for our councillors, the mayor. Similarly, local boards see that for things relevant to the area. That is a key part of our decision-making.
When people go and write individual advice reports, when people are reporting back on the rates changes and things like that, or reporting back on decision-making around the options around events funding and visitor fund funding, they will refer, and go even deeper, into some of the trends analysis and what we have learnt from submissions there. It is covered in multiple ways, but a big chunk of it is that analytical pack that we do and then feeding it into the advice. It is a key consideration.
The councillors and local boards - they spend a lot of time looking at that and wanting to understand what have the community said and why did they say that. It is something we take very seriously. There is a strong appetite to learn from that, to understand it. What decisions ultimately get made is up to elected members and their political judgement, but it is a very important factor for them to consider as part of that process.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
It is great. If you are sitting there thinking about putting in your feedback, akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan is the easiest way to find out more and indeed to connect to the feedback and to send it in there.
Maybe just a couple more questions, one in particular asking about the Annual Plan, noting for a growing city:
“Does this Annual Plan invest in more parks?”
Michael, you may have an idea of what it invests in.
Voice: Michael Burns
Yes. The annual plan includes $40 million next year for land acquisition. That is for both parks and for new cemeteries, that is part of planning for a growing city. And so, yeah, new open space for the city. Then on top of that, there is additional planned investment for growth-related - for the development of those parks, for converting that land that has been acquired into actually a usable park, and also for things like upgrading sports fields, so they can have enhanced use by greater population.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Great. Thanks for that, Mike. I think we are getting to the end of our questions here. We might just move forward a little bit on things. Thank you to Michael, Hanna and Ross just for taking us through the plan, talking about how we can feedback on the process. As I mentioned, you can go to akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan - there are lots of community events that are happening there as well.
Just a reminder as well, while we are here, of course - feedback on our annual plan is a great way to have you say about what council does. There is this other thing that is happening this year as well in local government, which we call an election. We hold elections every three years to elect a mayor and ward councillors, local board members, and indeed I think there are licensing trustees that come through in those elections as well.
The next local elections for Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland will be held by a postal vote in October. Now, I want you to go to akhaveyoursay/ourplan, but once you have done that, you can head to voteauckland.co.nz to look at the elections and what is taking place there.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
I just ask Michael, Ross, Hanna - I do not know if you have any final remarks you would like to make about the plan and the process.
Voice: Ross Tucker
I think we have covered it well, Mark. I just want to reiterate that it is all very well for us to put together a plan, we think we have got a great plan, but it is a very important part of the process for members of the public to have their say, for ratepayers to say how they want their money spent, for local communities to say what is important in their local area. We do take this very seriously. We do analyse and feed all the stuff back. It is very important for us that we do get feedback. There may not be that many big issues. We are not selling airport shares, or doing some of those big things, but there is a lot of important stuff within this.
Transport, we talked about parks, we have talked about looking after people that are most vulnerable. We have talked about the storm response, cemeteries - a whole range of things. There are any number of topics that you can get involved in, you can talk, you can tell us what you think about our particular proposals, events, funding and other things. You can talk to us about whatever is on your mind. We are very keen to hear and listen and feed it back to our decision-makers.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
Thanks for that, Ross. Mike, any remarks?
Voice: Michael Burns
No, just to reiterate what Ross has said, and also what Councillor Sayer said at the start when he quoted from that message from the mayor - they want to hear your views and that public submissions are an incredibly important part of this process that will inform future decision-making. Get online. It does not take long, and have your say.
Voice: Mark Reynolds
I am not sure if Councillor Sayers is still there. I think he might have some tech issue. We will just give a sec to see if he wants to make any final remarks there.
Perhaps not. Just reiterating what Michael said there. Very much, this is a situation where the feedback does count. It is considered by councillors. There are plenty of examples through the last long-term plan, through the annual plan before that, where there was lots of feedback from the public about proposals. As a result of that, minds were changed around the plan. So it is important that you take the time and trouble to send in your feedback.
As I have said before, the great thing about annual plan consultation is it is open to all Aucklanders, no matter what your age, whether you are old enough to vote, whether or not you are a ratepayer. This is the opportunity to have your say on where council plans to spend money and the services it plans to provide.
I hope you take the opportunity to give your feedback and encourage others to do the same. Well, to give their feedback, not your feedback, of course.
Just reminding you, finally, akhaveyoursay.nz/ourplan by 11:59pm, 28 March. That is when you can leave your feedback.
I just want to thank all of the staff for taking the time and trouble, not just on this presentation, but to actually put the annual plan proposal together to get it out there before Aucklanders. Also, I wanted to thank councillors - I know there are some attending and already listening. Your feedback is informing them already as part of the process. I want to thank those listening in, either live or on the recorded session, and look forward to hearing your feedback on our annual plan.
And with that, thanks for attending everyone.
[Video ends]
