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Auckland Council is giving its network of Citizens Advice Bureaus including the Warkworth/Wellsford service more financial autonomy.
It is moving towards a bulk-fund model, allowing CABs to distribute the $2 million of council funding themselves. Previously, council allocated funds to each site based on reported operational costs.
Cr Christine Fletcher said the need for Auckland CABs was greater than ever.
“Rising unemployment, high interest rates, challenges to whānau – this bulk-funded model is going to give them the flexibility to be able to respond in an equitable way into the areas where there is the most need,” Fletcher said.
Speaking against the bulk-fund model, Cr Daniel Newman said some CABs had funding reserves based on previous funding strategies, and it was unfair that those bureaus would be expected to spend those reserves first before getting funding.
Cr Lotu Fuli said the more flexible funding model would lead to a more equitable distribution of funding.
“The Ōtara CAB really is in the heart of an area of high deprivation and is always operating on virtually nothing and they are always crying out for more help. Their volunteers also come from families of high need,” Fuli said.
Fuli acknowledged that some CABs had been banking funding.
“We were giving them year-on-year hundreds of thousands of dollars that they were just banking and not using for the purpose that they said that they were using it for.”
The committee voted in favour of the funding option; 18 to 2. Cr Daniel Newman and Cr Alf Filipaina voted against the funding model.
