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Recently, Peter Williams, on his Substack, wrote about the new $46 million events centre opening in Cromwell this July. Yes, Cromwell and, yes, $46 million. It got me thinking about the broader pattern, because Cromwell isn’t an outlier. It’s a symptom.
Two councils. Two very different places. One shared problem.
Auckland, population 1.7 million people, a $4 billion annual budget and eye-wateringly high rates. Cromwell, a Central Otago town of a few thousand people, a district council with annual income just over $80 million and fewer than 15,000 ratepaying properties, has just invested $46 million on an events centre that includes a 400-seat auditorium, cinema, café, museum and multi-use spaces.
The operating cost alone will be $1.7 million a year against projected first-year income of around $100,000. In case you aren’t seeing it, that’s an annual deficit of $1.6 million. And not just a oncer! Every year from now on, the ratepayers of Cromwell will have to find $1.6 million just to keep the events centre running – never mind infrastructure costs and rising inflation.
Where did the people making decisions like this leave their brain cells?
So to Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city where rates are reaching outrageous levels. Lead by a mayor who promised to stem the flow, the council has done exactly the opposite: double digit increases that are completely unjustifiable and fed by constant spending on projects that most ratepayers would argue are unnecessary – especially in tough economic times. I’d describe Auckland council, its leadership and its bureaucracy as having expanded its ambitions well beyond its competence. Meanwhile Aucklanders drive on roads that shake their cars apart and watch their water bills climb while pipes leak under the streets.
· Auckland Council employs 12,508 staff – a third paid over $100,000 – with 917 managers averaging $134,799 and $114 million spent annually on consultants and contractors
· Auckland Transport estimates it spends at least $145 million annually on temporary traffic management – road cones, speed limit reductions
· Cycleways costing $20,000 per metre were cited by Mayor Brown himself, while raised pedestrian crossings came in at $300,000 each
· Under Goff, $44 million was spent on a 2.9 kilometre cycleway between Avondale and New Lynn
· A light-up art installation at Silo Park cost ratepayers $237,561
Rates and fees collected have risen 180 per cent since 2010, council debt is up 166.5 per cent per household and only 16 per cent of Aucklanders think the council provides value for money. Now there’s a surprise...
To compare Auckland with Cromwell may seem grossly out of perspective. The scale is certainly vastly different but the thought pattern is identical. No need to over complicate this. Both councils found ways to spend money they didn’t have on things that weren’t asked for. Vanity projects v essential infrastructure.
What is it with these people? If it was their own money, would they squander it so?
Prime Minister Chris Luxon told the Local Government NZ conference that councils should get back to “rubbish, pipes and potholes” and go “line by line” through budgets to stop wasteful spending. I’d add only one thing: central government should do the same thing and set the example.
