Mayoral Office and gym wrong to make costly shift

After spending nearly $100,000 on refurbishing his Town Hall office, Auckland Mayor Len Brown and his 20 staff are now set to shift out – in a move set to cost ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, says Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer.

The Mayoral Office will join councillors and many council staff who are moving into the now council-owned former ASB Tower on Albert Street following its $104m purchase and $46.7m refurbishment.

“The Mayoral Office should not be leaving the historic Town Hall. It’s a very special place and the likes of international visitors love its gravitas. Not to mention that ratepayers spent a packet on this much-loved heritage building back in the 1990s, and more recently nearly $100,000 to meet the needs of Len Brown and all his staff.”

“Ratepayers will fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Mayor’s new flash corporate-style office and the move. Don’t believe anyone when they tell you no money will be spent on his new office in Albert Street. The cost is huge, not helped by the fact that the entire tower is being completely environmentally retrofitted so council can boast it’s housed in a Green-star building.”

“Given how cash-strapped the council is, asking ratepayers to fund a brand new environmentally sustainable office for the Mayor and his 20 staff will infuriate Aucklanders. No doubt his controversial ratepayer-funded gym will also have to be moved.”

Mr Brewer said another cost for ratepayers will then be to move the Waitemata Local Board into the Mayoral Office in the Town Hall.

“Nothing against the central city local board, but the likes of councillors and many local board members are fuming that the Waitemata Local Board is set to move into the historic Town Hall’s Mayoral Office.

“Many simply don’t see it as fair or right, particularly when you consider most of our local boards are housed in pretty average community facilities out in the suburbs. However this arrangement has seemingly been done behind closed doors between centre-left political friends, and without councillor endorsement,” says Mr Brewer.

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