Ratepayers stump up $7.6 million to fund Auckland Council's travel bill

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling on Auckland Council and its Council-controlled organisations (CCOs) to tighten their belts, after obtaining figures which reveal that over $7.6m has been spent since July 2014 on international and domestic travel.

The figures, which were obtained under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, also reveal that Auckland Transport alone has spent over $1.5m in the same timeframe.

Auckland ratepayers are tired of stumping up to fund Council employees’ overseas adventures. Rather than delivering essential services in a cost-effective matter, Auckland Council is sending its employees and elected members on junkets overseas and around the country. The bureaucracy has clearly lost touch with what ratepayers primarily want from their council.

In March, we exposed Mayor Len Brown’s $27,000 trip to the Paris Climate Change Conference, for which he produced a 6-page report on a central government issue. There is clearly a culture of waste within Auckland Council.

Council travel is clearly an area where the Council could easily tighten its belt. It’s the unnecessary spending that we hope our 2% Ratepayer Protection Pledge will solve.

The Council's response can be downloaded here.