Victoria Crone promises hard line on Auckland Council bodies

Vic Crone , Auckland Mayoral candidate. Photo / Supplied

Auckland mayoral candidate Vic Crone is promising to take a tough line with the council's business units, saying they are a law unto themselves and not delivering value for money.

She has released a policy to put the "control" back into the six council-controlled organisations(CCOs), which are responsible for half of council spending.

"Weak and inadequate leadership from the Mayor means CCOs are not delivering value for money, not working together, duplicating activities, are a law unto themselves, and have ultimately lost touch with core purposes and people they're meant to serve," she said.

We're far from the efficient Super City we were promised and much of that has to do with the way our CCOs are operating

Vic Crone

The six CCOs are Auckland Transport, Watercare, Development Auckland, Regional Facilities Auckland, Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development(Ateed) and Auckland Council Investments Ltd.

Crone's policy fix includes international benchmarking, reducing duplication across the organisations, more local board input, whole-of-council performance targets, and a review of recruitment policies.

"We're far from the efficient Super City we were promised and much of that has to do with the way our CCOs are operating," she said.

"We must take a hard line on consistent underperformance. As a Mayor I will be more transparent about performance and I strongly support that being reflected in the remuneration and reappointment process."

Crone said she would expect world class results from the CCOs.

"Working with the Accountability and Performance Committee I will ensure CCO performance is benchmarked against international council organisations for world class results.

"I'm for a Council where CCOs work smarter together toward aligned goals, not in competition and isolation from each other. That will be underpinned by increased transparency, whole-of-council performance targets and stronger leadership from me as the Mayor," Crone said.

"From what I've seen there are a number Ateed functions duplicating activities in other council organisations. It's ridiculous having innovation teams in both Ateed and the main council organisation for example, why not have them in one place?

"It's hard to to be 100 per cent certain from the outside but as Mayor I'll be undertaking an extensive line-by-line review to identify the necessary areas of change and what needs to be cut back."