Parks and community

Our central proposal for parks and community

The central proposal for parks and communities looks to deliver services in a more financially sustainable way, with less reliance on our aging community assets and infrastructure.

This includes integrating some services (like combining libraries and council services) and delivering more online and on-site digital services (like self-checkout at the library) to better meet the changing needs of our communities.

To achieve this approach we propose:

• a capital budget (for assets) of $4.2 billion
• $700 million in operational funding (day-to-day cost to run and provide council services).

Highlights of our central proposal for parks and community

Under our central proposal we will:

• limit capital (asset) spending to $4.135 billion over 10 years to:
  • save $2.7 billion in capital expenses
  • save $100 million in operating expenses
  • invest in more efficient council services
• support the council to deliver:
  • more partnerships with community service providers
  • more digital and online services
  • more consolidated services (bringing together similar facilities across fewer locations, such as reducing the number of community halls in neighbouring areas)
  • $35 million funding towards indoor sports facilities
• provide fairer funding for local boards
• provide limited investment in priority housing areas, including $110 million of community investment for the Auckland Housing Programme areas supported by the Housing Acceleration Fund.

Trade-offs

We have developed other options to show you what to expect for our parks and communities should we pay less or pay more for them (through our rates).

Pay more, get more

A pay more, get more scenario could:

• provide $4.2 billion over the long-term plan to:
  • help retain more of our assets
  • continue buying new assets to increase community resources
• require more funding for operational expenses to cover maintenance, running costs and depreciation (loss of asset value over time)
• provide increased levels of funding to buy or rent open spaces, develop land and buy new assets.

In addition, owning more assets in a pay more, get more scenario could have an impact on service levels. In this scenario, we might own more assets but at the same time not be able to regulate them all with enough health, safety and risk compliance assessments beyond a very basic level, which could limit their use.

Pay less, get less

A pay less, get less scenario would mean less funding for parks and communities, and could make a move away from asset-based investment more difficult.

This could mean:

• reduced services and grants to fund higher depreciation and interest costs that come with owning more assets
• services delivered through using deteriorating assets
• greater asset disposals (sale of assets owned by a company or individual) to fund asset renewals and repairs
• limited investment in new land and developments and only investing in priority areas
• reduced ability to meet changing customer needs or invest in facility upgrades
• reduced investment to limit the effects of climate change.

Local Board Funding Policy

Fairer local board funding and changes to the Local Board Funding Policy could involve little or no additional cost. However, they would require a significant redistribution of funds between local boards that receive more funding and local boards that receive less.

This could mean:

• significant budget changes among local boards
• local boards with less funding will receive an increase in funding to invest in more services for their local communities
• the local boards with more funding could lose funding and may then not be able to deliver previously agreed projects, asset renewals or services without increasing fees, imposing local targeted rates or deciding which assets to keep available for public use.

Impact on parks and community services

A pay less, get less scenario could see some services and assets reduced to legally required minimum levels.

The effects of this scenario could include:

• reduced regional services (likes grants funding, community programmes, regional events and maintenance of open spaces and facilities)
• reduced opening hours of local services.

You should know

The information on this page is an edited version of the proposed Long-term Plan 2024-2034 Consultation Document.

For more information about our proposals for parks and communities, see page 39-41 of the Long-term Plan 2024-2034 Consultation Document [PDF 17MB].