It has vowed to take the board to court over the funding decision - a week after both sides appeared for a judicial review in the High Court in Auckland as the trust challenged last year's cut.
"As a result of [yesterday's] decision we will be suing them for the 2014/15 year," a spokesman for the helicopter trust said.
"We will be suing them as an entity and we will be exploring with our lawyers the possibilities of suing them as individuals,"
"We are not prepared to tolerate this any longer, this matter will have to be resolved in the courts again. And we will keep suing them until we win."
Helicopter trust chairman Murray Bolton said he was extremely disappointed but not surprised by the decision. "It's what we expected, really," he said.
Mr Bolton said the trust had no option but to go to court, "because otherwise they will just continue to cut us".
At $450,000, the grant represented only 5 per cent of the trust's operating costs, he said.
The rescue service was not in jeopardy but the cut would force the trust to look at "how we could pare back the service in some way", as well as curtailing future expansion.
Its second helicopter was cut from a 24-hour to 12-hour service to meet the funding shortfall of this financial year, he said.
Amenities board chairman Vern Walsh said the decision would now go to Auckland Council for approval.
Who gets what this year
* Auckland Arts Festival: $2.305m, up $75,000 on last year.
* APO: $2.942m, up $125,000.
* Auckland Regional Rescue Helicopter: $450,000, down $450,000.
* Auckland Theatre Company: $1.415m, up $85,000.
* Coastguard Northern Region: $670,000, up $20,000.
* NZ Opera: $800,000, no change.
* Stardome Observatory: $1.269m, up $150,000.
* Surf Life Saving Northern Region: $1.2m, up $60,000.
* Voyager Maritime Museum: $1.975m, up $100,000.
* Watersafe Auckland: $970,000, up $50,000.
(Auckland Council will decide on March 27 whether to approve these proposals.)
