Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Council accused of being poll-driven fruit cake

Over $9.3m of Auckland ratepayers’ cash has been spent on pollsters, and at least 44 external consultancies and providers have been engaged, and that’s just the start of it,” says Auckland Councillor for Orakei, Cameron Brewer.

In response to Mr Brewer's 22 March LGOIMA request on polling, market research and survey costs, it has been revealed that $9,369,766 has been spent by Auckland Council. While this includes $310,000 on the People’s Panel, notably it excludes the many surveys and polls commissioned by Auckland Council’s CCOs.

He believes if the likes of Auckland Transport and ATEED were included the total cost would be many millions more.

The Auckland councillor is also alarmed the subjects of the Mayor’s polling have again not been revealed. In the past few years ratepayers have been forked out over a quarter of a million dollars for the Mayoral Office to engage the Labour Party's polling company UMR Research for undisclosed purposes. In 2014/15, $28,000 was spent on polling by the Mayoral Office.

Mr Brewer says ratepayers should also be concerned that significant staff time and resource was just recently spent on surveying councillors and local board members on what they think about each other and the organisation.

"The council always hides behind the statutory need to consult for the likes of the Annual Plan, but let’s not forget the Government amended the Local Government Act to ensure public consultation is now much less arduous.

“However despite less annual documentation and consultation legally required, the costs keep going up. Once again Auckland Council is making a mockery of what the Government sought to improve with its ‘Better Local Government’ reforms.

“Auckland Council, excluding the CCOs, has engaged at least 44 external providers. And once again we don’t who gets paid how much, as council has blankly refused to answer this question, citing commercial sensitivities.

“The quantum of spend is completely over the top, particularly when you consider all the cut backs and service reductions local communities are having to endure.

"To coin a phrase from David Lange, Auckland Council has become a complete poll-driven fruit cake," says Cameron Brewer.

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