Te Poari ā-Rohe o Waitematā

Waitematā Local Board

Illustration of the Auckland waterfront and skyline, including the Sky Tower and high-rise buildings. The Harbour Bridge stretches across the water and a ferry travels across the harbour. There are colourful houses and a building on a green hillside along the shore.


Our funding for 2026/2027

We have been allocated $14.1 million for capital investment and $39.1 million for operational spend in 2026/2027.

Capital investment

We use these funds to renew and develop assets like:

  • community facilities
  • parks and sports fields.

Operating spend

We use these funds to run our services like:

  • community centres
  • libraries and parks
  • community and environmental programmes and events.

The $39.1 million for operational spend in 2026/2027 includes:

  • $26.9 million for community services
  • $300,000 for environmental services
  • $10.8 million for planning services
  • $1.2 million for governance (how we manage our local board area).

These figures are rounded to the nearest $100,000.

A lot of our operating budget will pay for existing contracts to maintain community facilities and open spaces.

Cost increases

We are also facing cost increases that will affect our operating budget. These include:

  • rising costs to provide our existing services, including utilities like electricity and water
  • maintaining our assets like community centres, libraries and parks
  • staff costs.

At the same time, we are making less revenue than expected from fees and charges.

In 2026/2027, we expect it will cost $1 million more to continue providing these services than it did in 2025/2026. This amount might change before the final annual plan is adopted.

Changes to current service levels, fees and charges

To address the cost increases we are facing, we could make some or all of the following changes to service levels:

  • reduce:
    • Central City Library hours by 3 hours a week, closing at 7pm on weekdays
    • Little Leys Library hours by 5 hours per week, closing at 5pm on weekdays
    • Grey Lynn Library by 2.5 hours per week, closing at 5pm on weekdays
    • Parnell Library hours by 2.5 hours per week, closing at 5.30pm on weekdays
  • reduce non-urgent work, like:
    • maintenance of bollards and ‘post-and-rail’ fencing
    • cleaning public plaques and signs
  • review:
    • grass mowing on steep areas and in some parks
    • how we manage traffic during street mowing and garden work
  • delay non-urgent tree work
  • reduce funding for community grants
  • reduce the grant funding we give to community groups to pay for their building costs
  • increase adult swim fees at council pools by up to $3.

Have your say

We want to know what you think about our plans for the Waitematā Local Board area.

Have your say now

You should know

The information on this page is an edited version of the:

  • Annual Plan 2026/2027 Consultation Document
  • Annual Plan 2026/2027 Supporting Information Document.

You can refer to pages 88-91 of the Annual Plan 2026/2027 Supporting Information Document for more details about our proposals for the Waitematā Local Board area.

Visit Annual plan documents, videos and translations to read all annual plan documents in full.