Board gets extra $8 million

Rodney Local Board is grappling with what to do with $8 million of extra money that it will receive next year as a result of a new ‘fairer funding’ model adopted by Auckland Council as part of its Long-term Plan.

Previously, local board funding was based on council assets in each area. The new method is based on population, which now accounts for 80 per cent, deprivation (15 per cent) and land area (five per cent).

Local Board senior advisor Helgard Wagener said Rodney had done particularly well under the new system, but the unexpected windfall wasn’t without its challenges.

“This local board is by far the single board with the most increase in budget. Up to now, you’ve been living on a shoestring, comparatively speaking,” he told members at a workshop last month.

“You’re in a very good position indeed and have a good opportunity, but it has its own challenges.”

The main hurdle is that the money can only be spent on operating costs, not capital expenditure. For example, it could be used to fix a building, not construct a new one. In addition, the money must be spent and all necessary work finished within the next financial year, 2025/26.

“It takes time to develop projects and get them implemented. And with op-ex there’s no rollover. It’s how to expedite it so that it really gets going as soon as the financial year starts.

“That’s where you’re really going to have to apply your minds,” Wagener said.
Chair Brent Bailey reiterated that any new projects had to be in the work programme and achievable.

“The trick when you work on your work programme is to not start things that staff are going to have trouble resourcing and to not make wholesale changes to things that require large amounts of reorganisation,” he said. “Gentle changes and redirection, gentle increases and decreases in scope and scale are the trick.”

Board members made a start on deciding where and how to spend their extra funding at an all-day confidential workshop on October 23.

As well as the extra $8 million for next year, there will be $7.5 million in the following two financial years, 2026/27 and 2027/28.