It’s only Tuesday and there are a couple of big announcements from this week that I thought I’d update you on.
Let’s start with the Government announcement on Local Water Done Well. Last Sunday (5 May) the Mayor, the Prime Minister, and the Minister for Auckland visited the Central Interceptor site in Mangere to make a final announcement on Water reform for Auckland. This, once and for all, scraps the 3 waters proposal for us and delivers a solution which as a Council we have been requesting for some time.
The agreement effectively separates the balance sheets of Watercare and Council which means Watercare can take on more debt than Council is able to provide. In doing so they can still deliver their much need capital investment programme and without them on our books we have a greater debt capacity for the investment we need to do.
Council still maintains democratic control of Watercare, and it maintains Council ownership of our water assets. Watercare also keeps managing drinking water and wastewater (two waters) and Council keeps managing stormwater, which is more about our parks, streams, and roads. So basically, it means no changes in the everyday way council works with Watercare.
From a Watercare perspective it enables greater debt headroom, allows it to properly invest in growth, environment, and public outcomes, while ring-fencing their revenue for water investment.
To you the ratepayers there is good news too. The proposed increase of just under 26% for the 2024/25 year will not go ahead. It will be just over 7%. That said Aucklanders are very efficient water users as we are metered and only charged for what we use, unlike in other parts of the country.
Win win and my thanks to this government for listening to us.
Next, the Mayor’s plan to make the most of Auckland’s port and prime waterfront. Today (7 May) the mayor did a stand up with the Chair of Ports of Auckland, Jan Dawson and the Maritime Union of New Zealand’s Auckland Secretary, Grant Williams, to announce a new plan. In a nutshell, Auckland’s Port land, assets and operations will remain in Council ownership and the proposed long-term lease is now off the table. Why? Because the Ports of Auckland and the Unions have agreed to now contribute $1.1 billion in profits to Auckland Council over the next ten years. This now exceeds the projected net returns from investing the proceeds of a port lease by $172m, and is a lift of $244m from Ports’ original 10-year profit projection ($856m).
On top of this Ports of Auckland support the mayor’s proposal to return Captain Cook Wharf and Marsden Wharf to Auckland Council which will have no impact on the Ports profitability. Public access will also be provided to parts of Bledisloe Wharf as a shared space for public use and cruise.
On one hand it’s a pity Ports needed the threat of a long-term lease to someone else to up their productivity, but the good news is that they have risen to the challenge and done it.
Again, potentially win win.
The agreement made today between the mayor, the port and the unions will still need to be discussed at Governing Body and voted on by mayor and councillors as part of the Long -term plan (10 year budget) process.
Finally, rubbish bins or I should say the removal of rubbish bins. In brief, the mayor proposed in his first annual budget the removal of underutilised rubbish bins in town centres and parks which had low use as part of a savings drive ($1.4m per year or potentially savings of $9.5 million over the next eight financial years). Auckland had around 10,000 bins before the bin optimisation project started. We will still have around 7,000 once the project is complete, or 30 % fewer bins.
Because town centres and parks sit within local board delegations, each of the 21 local boards were asked for their input on this. Only 4 I think wanted to keep their bins (and did). With the rest agreeing (or giving no feedback) so, the proposal went through.
The Orakei Local Board did not request to keep their bins.
Now the bin removal has been implemented, it’s obviously causing concern in several places. Last week the mayor and I moved a resolution to receive staff advice on the removal programme with a view to the replacement of rubbish bins where there is an obvious need, with a focus on town centres, high use playgrounds, high use local parks and reserve entry exit points. See below:
It’s important local boards input into the current situation, I do know that they have been asked for their feedback a second time already. I will update you further when the resolution above has been reported back to the mayor and councillors.
Thanks for keeping in touch and as you know I’m always available on desley.simpson@aucklandcouncil.govt
Desley