NewCore CAPEX budget has more than doubled in two years

Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer says two official council reports two years apart show the capital expenditure budget for council’s NewCore computer system increasing by more than double from $58.1m to $124m.

The Councillor for Orakei says the council is now desperate to downplay the project’s increasing costs by saying this is all just about shuffling around the organisation’s existing and wider IT budget.

“Let’s not lose sight that the full and final promise made to councillors in 2012 specified a total project capital cost less than half of what was highlighted in today’s report to Finance & Performance.

Mr Brewer and other councillors were pleased the committee today debated the item in public after pressure for the matters to be taken out of confidential.

“An amendment to defer any decisions to the full council next week was unfortunately lost 8/9, while my amendment which helpfully highlighted some home truths about the growing capital expenditure budget and expressed genuine council concern was amazingly lost 7/9:

BREWER/QUAX: 'Note that on 29 November 2012 councillors were advised that the “total cost of the programme is $71m made up of $58.1m CAPEX and $12.9m OPEX” while the 20 November 2014 report states that “total NewCore (CAPEX) costs post reset are $124m” with any additional operational expenditure not specified, and the committee records its utmost concern around future cost escalations and the project’s impact on Auckland Council’s other non-NewCore IT budget.'

“The public deserves to know that this project’s capital budget has changed dramatically in the past two years, not just hear the tricky spin denying any blow-out. This is not just about bringing some approved capital budget forward. This is a project which now has more than twice the total capital price-tag, and we still have no idea about any subsequent operational expenditure increases and impacts.

“To achieve all this they have raided the organisation’s wider IT budget for the next five years and so alarmingly we can now probably expect budget overruns in other IT areas in future years which is another big worry. Rest assured the hand will keep coming out,” says Cameron Brewer.

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