Rodney constrains spending to meet Council budget cuts

Warkworth may have to wait at least another 10 years before planning starts on an aquatic facility.

Rodney Local Board chair Bob Howard says the project, estimated to cost around $22 million, is one of many that have been cut or deferred in Rodney to meet funding targets set by Auckland Council’s governing body.
In its Local Board Plan, the aquatic facility was allocated $20 million in the 2013/14 financial year to assess and construct the project.

However, Mr Howard says there won’t be money to deliver this project in that timeframe, and the board was giving priority to sportsground improvements and completion of the long-awaited Warkworth Showgrounds redevelopment.

Although the Local Board acknowledges that it is facing a budget deficit, Mr Howard says he is not in a position to give details on the level of the shortfall.

On the original figures presented in the Mayor’s local board funding proposal last November, other sources estimated that Rodney’s deficit was around 59 percent or $9.3 million, one the largest funding cuts of any board in Auckland.

Mr Howard said Rodney never expected to receive everything it asked for and since November, had worked on meeting the Mayor’s funding allocation but was still eight to 10 percent short.

The board was expected to approve the draft Rodney Local Board Agreement 2012/13 at a meeting on January 31. It provides for spending of $10.8 m on operational expense and $7.1 m on capital projects – abut $1.2 m short of what the board wants.

The agreement will be consulted on through Auckland Council’s Long-Term Plan 2012-2022 process in February and March.

At its meeting last November, the board agreed that it could not adopt the draft 10 year budget for local activities as the information provided was not accurate or sufficiently complete to enable the Local Board to make a decision.

The Rodney Local Board also noted that the current 2012/13 budget did not adequately address Rodney’s funding requirements for the delivery of local activities, in particular events, economic development and community development.

Relationship manager Leslie Jenkins says additional frustration arises from the fact that some of the reduction in the local board budget came about because of re-allocation of funding for local projects to Auckland Council and its CCOs. However, Ms Jenkins says local boards are still largely in the dark as to which body is funding what.

“It’s not as transparent as it should be, and the board will be asking for more specific information,” Ms Jenkins says.

“Part of the discussion that the board needs to have with the governing body is what they are working on locally – if we don’t know, how can we assess it and ensure community involvement?”

The draft Rodney Local Board Agreement must be included in Auckland Council’s draft Long-Term Plan 2012-2022.

The plan will be open for submissions from February 24 to March 23, and the plan will be adopted in June.

Specific priorities identified in the board agreement include:
• Warkworth Showgrounds – requires $10.9m funding over 10 years but there is currently a shortfall of $7.8m
• Community halls, and the Warkworth Town Hall in particular
• Funding for local events
• Seal extension programme

Other priorities for the next 10 years, many of which have not been allocated funding in the draft LTP, included:
• swimming pool/aquatic facility
• Mutli sport facility
• Atlas site – no funding has so far been allocated to this project
• Extend Warkworth Library

What’s a Local Board Agreement?
The Local Board Agreement is negotiated annually between the Local Board and the Governing Body. In essence it’s a budget for the financial year, that sets out the levels of service that will be funded for each local activity, operating and capital expenditure, and the sources of funding for the budget. It takes its spending direction from the priorities in the three-year Local Board Plan, which dovetails into the Auckland 10-year Long Term Plan.

Published 1 February 2012