15 February 2011

[Statement from David Thornton]

In the current furore surrounding the Auckland Council budgeting process it is the Council itself which is at fault – especially the Mayor.

The new legislation is clear – it is the job of the Mayor to prepare a draft budget to present to the full council for support. This is why the Mayor has his own office of 18 staff and an annual budget of around $5 million.

In deciding the funding level for the Maori Statutory Board [MSB] the Council is required to engage an expert in the remuneration field to provide advice as to the level of remuneration required to be paid to the MSB members and staff – which must be commensurate with their agreed and defined role.

However I understand that it was the MSB who appointed a remuneration expert and it was such advice which was then given the Council for ‘rubber-stamping’ – and proposed the original figure of $3.4 million for the 2011/12 year.

I suggest that the legislation makes it clear that it is the Council which makes the final decision on the funding level – and in this case the Council, following the Mayor’s lead, totally failed to follow the correct procedures and use its powers appropriately on behalf of ratepayers.

Had the Council agreed an annual budget of $400,000 for the MSB it would have placed the ball squarely into Maori hands to challenge, legally or otherwise, – the funding for which would NOT be a Council responsibility.

While the new council may, with some justification, claim that it is still ‘settling in’, ratepayers will not tolerate the level of incompetence over the spending of rates funds that this first budget exercise has shown.

ENDS

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