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Mayoral back-down the right thing to do
10 February 2011
Mayoral back-down the right thing to do
Auckland Mayor Len Brown's decision to revisit the funding amounts of the Maori Statutory Board is embarrassing for him but great for the ratepayer, claims Councillor Cameron Brewer who has been a vocal critic of the process and the proposed $3.5m annual cost.
"This is an embarrassing back-down for the Mayor but taking the matter to full council on Monday is the right thing to do. I'm pleased that I spoke out on behalf of the ratepayer and was one of 10 councillors to sign a protest letter to the CEO and Mayor.
"Given that half the councillors are very upset, the Mayor may struggle to get the numbers on Monday. There will have to be some serious slashing of the board's budget to get the funding agreement ratified.
"The Mayor's admission now that there "is considerable room for savings" proves my claim that he didn't challenge the budget enough in the first place.
"This is the first major back-down by the Mayor. He's learnt a hard lesson about riding roughshod over councillors, not consulting the public, and treating ratepayers' money so casually," says Cameron Brewer.
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