Funding cuts put pressure on Hibiscus and Bays Local Board

When the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board meets this week, members will find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

Because of Auckland Council funding cuts, the board must either reduce its spending, which will affect the delivery of local projects, or fight for additional funds from the governing body.

Currently the cuts leave the local board under-funded by $477,000. However, this shortfall is a vast improvement on the original figures presented in the Mayor’s local board funding proposal last November. The original proposal came as a shock to many local boards, and several, including Hibiscus & Bays and Rodney, refused to confirm their Local Board Agreement based on those figures.

Chair Julia Parfitt sent a strongly worded letter to Council’s chief financial officer Andrew McKenzie, saying the proposed funding, which amounted to a reduction of almost 50 percent, was unacceptable. She says the proactive approach paid off, with Council officers reassessing the figures for local boards.

“The initial information was flawed, and changes were made after local boards questioned it,” Mrs Parfitt says.

The latest figures, to be presented to the local board on February 1, show a total operating expenditure for 2012/13 of $16.8 million and total capital expenditure of $5.8 million. This is $477,000 less than the funding the local board needs to complete its programme of work for this year.

Relationship manager Lesley Jenkins says cuts were expected, as there is simply not enough money to go around, and the board will have to decide whether to take what’s been offered, which means further reductions in spending, or to fight for the additional money.

Mrs Parfitt says she hopes that the board will vote not to make cuts that may affect activities locally, but find a way to claw back those funds.

“I am comfortable that we will source that funding, or can make the budget work by ‘smoothing’ projects over more than one year.”

Mrs Jenkins says 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. She 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. We need to find out what the governing body is working on locally – if we don’t know, how can we assess it?”

Those details will be revealed to the public when Council unveils its Draft Long Term Plan this month. Submissions on the Draft Long Term Plan are open February 24–March 23 and the Plan will be adopted in June.

Projects included in the 2012/13 Local Board budget: Building a hall in Stillwater; Providing a mobile library service in Stillwater; Improvements to The Leisure Centre; Upgrade of Stoney Homestead; Art work for Whangaparaoa Library.