Soaring rates: Auckland problem easily solved by adapting Brisbane model

Brisbane is the size of Auckland with one council, 27 fulltime councillors, modern rail to the airport and is about to build a 5km road tunnel from the north to the south of the city.

Auckland has seven councils, a regional council, 264 elected representatives, secondhand diesel trains and a motorway bottleneck from Bombay to Warkworth.

It's called the "Auckland disease" and there is no better example of that than the Tank Farm development on the waterfront. Take a deep breath.

Ports of Auckland owns the Tank Farm that the public want to see turned into a worldclass area. The ports company is owned by Auckland Regional Holdings, Auckland Regional Council's investment arm.

The ARC group needs proceeds from the development to buy some trains and stormwater pipes. The Auckland City Council wants to buy into the development because it doesn't entirely trust the ARC group to get it right.

The result is a public money go-round in which ratepayers stump up money to the city which stumps up money to the port company which passes it on to the ARC. We are talking about publicly owned land.

Grant Kirby, a former senior executive at Auckland City and Local Government Commission past chairman, says anyone following Auckland issues would be right to think Auckland was a region where it was hard to get agreement on what projects are necessary, priorities and funding in a timely and efficient manner.

He wrote in the Herald that the "inefficient" local government structure was just not working, leaving Auckland struggling to perform to international standards.

"Ratepayers deserve better. Taxpayers deserve better. The region and nation deserves better," Kirby said.

He believes a structure like Brisbane is practical and pragmatic, could be up and running within 18 months, through an act of Parliament, and would finally achieve one funding and service delivery.