Watch the wildest moments of Wayne Brown's Budget announcement. Video / Michael Craig
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown took aim at four councillors at a shambolic invite-only meeting at Auckland Transport’s headquarters today.
Not only did he lambast his hosts for occupying a “waterfront palace” with a promise to move them into cheaper accommodation, but there were chaotic scenes involving the media.
TVNZ, Newshub and Stuff journalists and camera crews were prohibited from getting past reception, and the Herald and RNZ were banned by one of Brown’s media team from live-streaming the event for not putting in a request beforehand.
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown outlined his budget at AT HQ today. Photo / Michael Craig
The ruckus carried into Brown’s speech before the mayor’s chief of staff, Max Hardy, overruled the media team to allow live streaming and everyone from the media into the meeting.
Brown used the meeting to outline his final budget proposal that hangs on the sale of the council’s $2.2 billion shares in Auckland Airport and goes to a vote next Thursday.
“This has been a tough budget,” Brown said, pointing to the 4 per cent of the 40,000-plus submitters who do not want higher rates, and changes he has made to reinstate cuts to social services and the arts to get the budget over the line.
Despite his efforts to convince councillors that the best way to hold household rates at 6.7 per cent (rate of inflation) and plug a $325 million budget hole is by selling the airport shares, Brown is struggling to get the numbers around the council table.
He is also struggling to come to terms with councillors who do not support his reasons for the sale, which is to use the proceeds to lower debt, saving $100m a year in interest costs, a lot less than dividends from keeping the shares.
With his first budget teetering on the votes of a handful of councillors, Brown picked out Mike Lee, Christine Fletcher, John Watson and Wayne Walker for signing a pre-election pledge to hold rate increases to the rate of inflation.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown explaining his final budget proposal at Auckland Transport. Photo / Michael Craig
Excellent, you stood for something, Brown said, “but I’m expecting you to honour your pledge”.
“Having explored all the other options, there is only one way to keep rates within inflation and that involves selling the airport shares or cuts will come back and rates will rise,” he said.
Lee said it was petulant of the mayor to chastise councillors who support him and doing their best to find a way out of the budget deficit while taking on widespread opposition to the sale.
“The mayor continues to dig himself a hole of his own making,” he said.
Two councillors who do support selling the shares and will be voting for the budget are Greg Sayers, who calls it a “bandaid fix budget” to get the council out of the current hole, and Maurice Williamson, who is disappointed some of the proposed budget cuts have been reinstated but said, “that’s the horse-trading that has to be done.
“I’m disappointed there isn’t commonsense in regard to the airport shares. It is eminently commonsense not to own an asset that is costing you a lot more than you are earning from it, even in the best of times,” Williamson said.
Auckland councillor Greg Sayers. Photo / Michael Craig
Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges also gave the budget the thumbs-up, even though it means the overall rates increase of 9.8 per cent would lead to rates higher than inflation for businesses.
He called it a strong proposal for the times and circumstances and Brown is right about the airport shares, saying it’s like a household investing in shares when they can’t pay the mortgage.
Borrowing a quote frequently used by Williamson, Brown said, “Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die,” referring to the difficult choices that needed to be made.
He said he has listened to people’s calls and has softened some of his spending cuts, saying arts and culture leaders were present in the room and had spoken well for their fields.
Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges. Photo / Jed Bradley
Arts and culture groups and local boards will “get their money back”, with their funding levels to be restored, the mayor said.
Citizens Advice Bureau funding is to be restored but they will have to start looking for other income.
In pitching his mission to “stop wasting money”, Brown took aim at Auckland Transport.
He said AT spent $76,000 on walking tours that only 52 people participated in, saying if $1000 was offered to everybody you might have got more than 50.
Brown complained that Heart of the City was not doing enough. Chief executive Viv Beck said “I’d like a right of reply” and Brown told his mayoral rival “you had your right of reply and no one believed you”.
