Everything you need to know about Auckland's 11.5 cent per litre regional fuel tax coming to an end.
Video / Alyse Wright
Auckland Council has hit back over the loss of the Regional Fuel Tax, telling the Government to pay the full cost of the Eastern Busway.
The Government has axed the tax, leaving the council $1.2 billion short in revenue and subsidies to spend on transport projects over the next four years.
What’s more, the Government has instructed the council to use $210 million of $360m in unspent funds from the tax to go towards the Eastern Busway.
Councillor Julie Fairey put forward the motion to seek the Government to fully fund the busway, saying she supported its completion but was uncomfortable with central government “effectively telling us what we will and won’t prioritise in our own city”.
Councillor Julie Fairey put forward the motion to seek the Government to fully fund the busway. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“Now we are told we have less funding and we have to spend it on a specific project that central government prefers, which happens to align with some people’s electorate boundaries,” Fairey said.
The partially completed busway between Panmure and Botany runs through the Pakuranga electorate of Transport Minister Simeon Brown and the Botany electorate of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Several councillors shared Fairey’s disappointment and frustration with the Government over the issue, councillor Shane Henderson saying he was feeling disempowered with decisions “being made for us”.
The motion was passed by 11 votes to six with three abstentions, including Mayor Wayne Brown, who said he had the job of fronting the Government over the issue.
Auckland Transport (AT) bosses at today’s transport and infrastructure committee meeting said the $1.2b loss of revenue and subsidies from the axing of the Regional Fuel Tax would mean some projects would be stopped and others reduced in scope.
They said the $360m of unspent funds from the tax would provide $210m for the Eastern Busway and $75m for new trains and stabling for the City Rail Link.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown alongside a section of the Eastern Busway that the council wants the Government to fully fund. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Chief finance officer Mark Laing said AT was required by the Government to use unspent tax money on the Eastern Busway and new trains/stabling.
That left just $75m for costs associated with the opening the CRL in 2026, Eastern Busway services and new train services, and roading projects.
In light of the cuts, AT is reviewing its capital programme, which may not be limited to projects funded by the fuel tax.
AT chief executive Dean Kimpton said AT was not in a position yet to say what projects would be affected by the loss of the fuel tax.
He said some projects would stop and some would be reduced in scope unless other funding sources made it up.
“Auckland Transport must not assume that RFT funding will simply be replaced by higher council rates or debt,” Brown said.
Simeon Brown said the Government had been clear all along about the unspent funds from the tax being allocated to the Eastern Busway, the CRL trains and stabling, and local roading projects.
“Now it is over to Auckland Council to deliver those projects from that funding,” he said.
Asked if the council, not the Government, should decide where the unspent funds go, Brown said National campaigned on removing the fuel tax, delivered on that commitment with legislation passed, and ensured the remaining funds go towards projects of shared priority between the council and the Government.
Brown said he discussed the matter with the mayor on a number of occasions, saying Wayne Brown highlighted those projects as being important to him and the council “and we progressed legislation on that basis”.
Bernard Orsman is an Auckland-based reporter who has been covering local government and transport since 1998. He joined the Herald in 1990 and worked in the parliamentary press gallery for six years.
