Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says he expects a brand new council cost-cutting committee set as much as rein within the metropolis’s spending to start work instantly.
:quality(70):focal(-5x-5:5x5)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/tvnz/ZZSGOE33MNEYXN7FTQUG6JDMXM.png)
By Local Democracy Reporting’s Stephen Forbes
That’s regardless of a choice this week to cancel its first meeting as a result of it did not have something to debate.
Auckland Council’s new expenditure management and procurement committee cancelled the December 6 meeting as a result of, in keeping with chairman Maurice Williamson, it did not have any stable knowledge or evaluation to take a look at.
But Mayor Wayne Brown launched an announcement on Thursday saying he had requested the committee to establish $12.5m in financial savings from the Auckland Council and different CCOs.
That consists of $7.5 million in spending cuts from Auckland Transport and $5 million from Auckland Council and its different CCOs.
A spokesperson for Brown mentioned on Friday that he anticipated the committee to undertake a direct line-by-line evaluation of council spending and advocate the place value financial savings might be made by March 31 subsequent 12 months.
And regardless of the cancellation of this month’s meeting, he expects the work to start as quickly as potential.
“The mayor’s office has written to the chair and deputy chair of the committee confirming this project should begin immediately, and suggested they schedule an initial workshop with the full committee and council officers as soon as possible.
“As the mayor mentioned on November 17, he expects officers to supply the committee with all the knowledge it requires to do its work, and the mayor intends to debate this matter with the chief government at their common meeting early subsequent week.”
But he refused to answer questions about whether the committee should reschedule its meeting for this month and what the mayor’s thoughts were on comments by Manurewa ward councillor Angela Dalton.
Dalton, who is a member of the committee, said she felt like the other councillors on it had been sidelined.
“The solely communication I’ve obtained from Maurice Williamson was that the meeting had been cancelled. It’s unbelievable,” Dalton said. “It’s just like the committee members aren’t even concerned.”
She said if the council was facing a supposed financial crisis it didn’t make sense to cancel its first meeting on the grounds there’s nothing to talk about.
Brown last week said council faced a $295m hole in its next budget and double-digit rate rises as a result, if the deficit wasn’t addressed.
Dalton said the fact council will go into recess next month for Christmas – and won’t return until February 2023 – meant the committee was unlikely to meet more than twice before Williamson releases his findings.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
Wayne Brown demands cost-cutting start after meeting scrapped
Wayne Brown demands cost-cutting start after meeting scrapped
information without going through us first, so we can provide you the latest and greatest news without costing you a dime. The two of you may learn the specifics of the news together, giving you a leg up. We’ll get to the next step when a little time has gone.
Our goal is to keep you up-to-date on all the newest news from around the globe by posting relevant articles on our website, so that you may always be one step ahead. In this manner, you’ll never fall behind the latest developments in that news.
Wayne Brown demands cost-cutting start after meeting scrapped