February 04, 2025
Concerns have been raised by the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance towards unknown expenditure by Auckland Council on the 2024 Matariki Festivals.
A request under the Local Government Official Information and Meeting Act last year revealed Auckland Council spent $717,941.95 on Matariki festivities – with more than $126,400 spent on just one of the 88 events, alone. The final bill however remains unknown as costs are not expected to be finalised until 30 June 2025.
“It’s concerning to see such huge amounts still unaccounted for” said Sam Warren, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance.
“Every dollar spent by Council needs to be readily defendable. Proper scrutiny is next to impossible if it takes the Council more than 12 months to know what even they’ve spent.”
“Aucklanders deserve better transparency on how their money is being spent – and it’s troubling to see such huge sums of money are put towards festivals without a clear view on how big the pot might actually be.”
“In August last year the Prime Minister and then-Local Government Minister Simeon Brown made clear their expectations to councils to do away with ‘nice-to-haves’ and rein in spending. How on earth can councils do this when it takes over a year to find out how much they’ve actually spent?”
“Better reporting practices are desperately needed for Auckland to stay on top of ratepayer-funded expenditure.”
January 30, 2025
The race for Auckland’s mayoralty has begun. The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance can reveal the domain ‘Desleyformayor.co.nz’ has been registered by the son of Wayne Brown’s Deputy Mayor, Desley Simpson, on 13 December 2024.
“Simpson has been long-rumoured to want a tilt at the top” said Sam Warren, a Spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance.
“Until now, Simpson has been biding her time supporting Mayor Wayne Brown, as she did with each of Phil Goff’s rates increases when he was Mayor. Having a domain registered for an upcoming campaign, she has shown us her hand.”
“The dynamic now changes. Brown is heavily tipped to run again. With strong National Party links, Simpson’s bid splits the centre-right vote, potentially handing Auckland to a candidate backed by the Labour-Green bloc.”
January 06, 2025
The New Zealand Herald has today revealed the number of Aucklanders postponing rate payments has skyrocketed to 648 in the last financial year – up 65 percent from only five years earlier.
“The number of Aucklanders having to delay rates payments is far higher than other parts of the country, with other large councils having less than ten postponements in the same five-year period” said Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance Spokesman, Sam Warren.
“Even after factoring in the large population increases in our largest city, this increase is staggering.”
“We get dozens of emails each month from ratepayers up and down the country, many of which are from retirees on fixed incomes, who are hit hard by ongoing rate increases.”
“It’s fine that councils offer some kind of reprieve for those struggling, but I think this highlights the urgency that more must be done to rein in bad council spending decisions to keep rates manageable.”
“The cost of living remains stubbornly high, in part, because rates have increased so much – averaging 14 percent across the board just last year. Incredibly, Auckland is actually below this average, but still well above inflation with further rates increases planned year-on-year still.”
“In December last year, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown announced a raft of changes to councils, including the possibility of introducing a rates capping mechanism. Considering today’s news, employing such a system would be well overdue to keep councils in check.”
December 03, 2024
Ratepayers across the Super City will be breathing a collective sigh of relief following today’s announcement by Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to restore democratic accountability to Auckland’s transport system.
Speaking on behalf of the Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance, St Heliers ratepayer Jordan Williams said:
“For years, Aucklanders have been trapped in a backed-up system of bad decisions, but today the Browns have brought the plunger—and they’re not afraid to use it.”
“Ratepayers have often said that Auckland Transport is like a blocked toilet—expensive to fix, full of crap, and nobody is willing to take responsibility. That finally ended today.”
“Our team gets more complaints about Auckland Transport’s shoddy service, and speed hump fetishes, than any other part of Council. It has become a law unto itself, and today’s announcement is exactly what the Ratepayers’ Alliance has been campaigning for. Breaking it down, today’s announcement provides a much-needed sense of relief:
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Shifting transport planning back to Auckland Council: “Today’s announcement strengthens democracy by scrapping Auckland Transport’s ‘statutory independence’ forcing it to answer to voters. No more flushing ratepayers’ money down the drain without oversight.”
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The new Auckland Regional Transport Committee: “This ensures all the big transport decisions will now be made by people who can be held accountable—if they drop the ball or leave something smelly behind, they’ll answer for it at the ballot box.”
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Local Boards taking control: “Finally, Auckland’s neighbourhoods will have the power to tidy up their own backyards, whether it’s parking policies or speed limits. The status quo wasn’t cutting it. For years, Local Boards have been stuck cleaning up flaming turds left by Auckland Transport’s tone-deaf decisions, which ignored the clear views of local communities.”
“We congratulate Wayne Brown for taking a stand. He was elected to eject the bloated, constipated Auckland Transport, slim down the Super City, and make it run smoothly. This is a welcome relief for Auckland ratepayers—and not a moment too soon.”
Mr Williams concluded: “Now that Auckland Transport is back under Council control, the real challenge is to ensure strong leadership and cross-party unity to pave the way for the infrastructure Auckland desperately needs. Aucklanders cannot afford the Mayor or Council to skid off course.”
December 02, 2024
A seven-page report accidentally made public has revealed major concerns for cost blowouts and time delays for New Zealand’s largest infrastructure project, the City Rail Link.
“Human error has given us a glimpse into how dire the situation really is” said Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance Spokesman, Sam Warren.
“Critically, the material shows a lack of confidence in the project’s main contractor, French company, VINCI Grand Projects.
“If this was entirely a government project, greater tools for transparency would be available. However due to the structure of the joint company set up between Auckland Council and the Government that oversees the CRL, scrutiny is near impossible.
"The initial $2b–$3b budget has exploded to $5.5b since the project started in 2016. It shouldn't take human error to keep the public informed. If this massive undertaking is in danger of blowing out further, it’s well within the public’s interest to know.
"We’re calling for greater transparency from City Rail Link Limited to release any and all critical information surrounding setbacks, delays and cost overruns, so that officials and contractors involved can be held accountable.”
November 28, 2024
The Auckland ratepayers' Alliance can reveal through a Local Government Official Information and Meeting Act request that Auckland Council has spent $2.2 million on purchasing phones in the last three years, and a further $1.5 million on mobile connections last year alone.
“The question must be asked, what's costing ratepayers money, unnecessarily?" said Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance Spokesman, Sam Warren.
“Using phones as library scanners is well-and-good, but in 2024, virtually everyone already owns a phone. Why are corporate staff even considered for mobiles, on-call or not?
“Yes, work related travel should induce allowances for data and phone calls, but is this deal the most cost effective option? A yearly bill of $1,522,893 is massive, and will only get bigger.
“Chief Executive Phil Wilson must find cuts and efficiencies, big and small, throughout Auckland Council to avoid rates rises reaching double digits next year.”
November 20, 2024
The Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance is calling for disciplinary action against Auckland Transport chief executive Dean Kimpton following his political comments reported in the NZ Herald this morning.
"Dean Kimpton is the poster child of what an undemocratic CCO model has led to," says Jordan Williams, a Spokesman for the Ratepayers' Alliance.
"Here we have a Mayor, clearly elected with a democratic mandate to put the CCOs back under democratic accountability, and we have a media white-anting with a PR campaign by the very CCOs being reformed. It is nothing short of disgraceful that officials think it is their role to speak to the media about a matter before democratically elected councillors.
"Professionalism and decorum once ensured public sector bosses like Kimpton knew better than to inject themselves into politics. It is, yet again, case-in-point of why local government needs to have a statutory duty of political neutrality imposed on its officials."
"If Mr Kimpton wants to be a politician he should stand for election, not undermine a Mayor with a democratic mandate to bring CCOs into line."
November 19, 2024
Responding to the draft mayoral proposal released today, Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesman, Alex Emes, said:
“Auckland CCOs have been able to hide in the shadows for too long. This lack of accountability has seen waste spiral and service levels fall.
“Mayor Brown putting democracy first is a huge step in the right direction. Why should our elected representatives not have full oversight over these huge bureaucracies?
“This is a clear message to central government that the city wants Auckland Transport rolled under the Council’s leadership. There can’t be any delay in changing the law to make this possible.”
November 04, 2024
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has come out swinging against the council’s cultural and economic agency for spending $737,208.58 on its ‘Happiness Guide” campaign to improve the city’s declining public perceptions.
“Once again Tātaki Auckland Unlimited has demonstrated its proficiency in wasting money, almost as if waiting on queue” said Ratepayers’ Alliance Spokesman, Sam Warren.
“A post-mortem showed around only 14% of those surveyed actually improved their perceptions of Auckland, making any rushed defence for the $730,000 campaign beyond comprehension.
“TAU seems very eager to flex its enormous budget, but much less concerned about providing any real value to ratepayers footing the bill. This is also the case with other CCOs like Auckland Transport – whose model skirts accountability time and again.
“Condemnation by Brown follows moves to explore reform of Auckland’s Council Controlled Organisations. With this kind of wasteful spending going on, there’s no shortage of justification for Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, and it’s fellow CCOs, to be rolled.”
September 30, 2024
Leaked documents to the Post can reveal that Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is several steps closer to disestablishing the city’s beleaguered economic development agency, Tataki Auckland Unlimited.
“It’s been a long time coming” said Spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance, Sam Warren.
“Like it’s sibling CCOs, Tataki Auckland Unlimited’s arms-length independence from Council has allowed for a near-untouchable gluttony of overpaid bureaucrats with oversized, ratepayer-funded budgets.
“Following requests made by the mayor, some previous attempts have been made to temper Tataki Auckland Unlimited’s enormous $125 million yearly budget. But in reality, much of what it does is simply not required by a council-controlled organisation.
“Bringing only its core functions in-house while scrapping the rest will result in a leaner, much more focused operation that will reduce the financial burden on ratepayers. Other CCOs that are guilty of wasting ratepayers’ money should also face the chop while the Mayor is at it.”