Auckland councillors formally approve Mayor Wayne Brown’s first budget - household rates rise by 7.7 per cent

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown's first budget was formally adopted today. Photo / Michael Craig

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s controversial first budget has been formally adopted today, including a 7.7 per cent rates rise for households.

The procedural step follows a rigorous two-day governing body meeting earlier this month that ended in a compromise to sell 7 per cent of the council’s 18 per cent shareholding in Auckland Airport and nudging household rates above the rate of inflation. The overall rates rise was 11 per cent.

For the average household, rates will rise from $3306 to $3560.

The new budget comes into effect on Saturday, July 1.

The budget was passed as a package, but several councillors noted their opposition to the sale of airport shares, which Brown pushed to help address a $325 million hole in the budget and put the council’s finances on “a sustainable financial footing”.

Councillor Lotu Fuli voted against the budget and councillor Julie Fairey abstained.

“The budget is a compromise,” said Waitakere councillor Shane Henderson.

Said Brown: “Nobody has compromised more than I have, but it is how you get a grown-up group having a vote that affects 1.7 million Aucklanders.”

Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said the council has come to a place where it has enough people to cross the line, saying it was the first time she had seen a mayoral proposal change so much.

She congratulated the mayor, saying he had changed and compromised to get to this point.

Councillor Maurice Williamson said he had never swallowed so many dead rats. Photo / Michael Craig

Councillor Maurice Williamson said he had never swallowed so many dead rats, adding it was nonsense for people saying “I don’t want this, I don’t want that”. He voted for the budget.

The sale of airport shares dominated the earlier decisions on the budget and contained a sting in the tail - a potential $700 rates rise over two years for the average household.

The pressure on household budgets could also be as much as $1000 when a 19 per cent rise in water bills over two years is added to the mix.

Council finance officers have outlined the factors that could lead to a big rates rise next year to the Herald, but stressed the 13 per cent figure is “very preliminary” and there are a lot of factors to be worked through during the development of a new 10-year budget.

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.