The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is hopeful that Wayne Brown means what he says when he states he has picked a committee structure to find savings at Auckland Council, but is calling for assurances that cuts won’t be made to core services such as libraries.

Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesman, Josh Van Veen, says:

“Very clearly there are major financial problems at Auckland Council. We were surprised to see Phil Goff’s finance chair selected by Mr Brown to be his deputy – interpreted by some as rewarding the very person who got the Council into the current mess.

“We are hearing three common themes in feedback from ratepayers. First, the Council has to take a good hard look at itself. Are all the departments, agencies, and armies of officials even necessary? It needs to get back to core services, even if that means closing departments or CCOs. We have already identified Panuku as an obvious choice to scrap. It is supposed to make money for the Council, but is instead a money drain.

“The second bottom line is to protect core services: Library books for kids, pool fees, and other core council services should be ring fenced. Too often Auckland Council’s officials have threatened core services to protect their own fat pay packets and strong-armed politicians from making meaningful savings.

“There are good things to like about the Mayor’s proposed committee structure, but it doesn’t appear to fit with the third piece of feedback we are hearing. Financial decisions should ultimately be made by elected officials – who are accountable to the public – not shared with unelected Māori Statutory Board members.

“Auckland Council needs more accountability, and we fear that delegating important decisions to committees with unelected members is a recipe for a democratic deficit when the tough decisions are required to be made.”

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