The super council plan
by Aroha Treacher
To the uninitiated, the Fix Auckland campaign might be something of a mystery.
In a nutshell, the Fix Auckland campaign wants to abolish Auckland’s seven local authorities and regional councils and replace them with a single One Auckland Council.
The campaign calls for public feedback on abolishing the eight councils and establishing One Auckland Council with a mayor elected at large and 21 community councils based on electorate boundaries.
The Engineering and Manufacturing Association is behind the campaign and is working with the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development and the One Auckland Trust.
Chief executive of the EMA Alasdair Thompson, believes local government costs are “skyrocketing”, but still nothing is getting done “efficiently or quickly”.
He said the cost of living in Auckland is too expensive and that having more than one council is unnecessary.
The Fix Auckland campaign believes the One Auckland Council (OAC) will simplify local affairs and reduce rates by about $400 per year, per ratepayer.
The consolidation of Auckland city will mean a total estimated savings of $200 million per annum.
The campaign involved 18 months of research and hopes to be in place after the next general election in 2008 and ready for voting in 2010.
A recent poll conducted by the NZ Herald indicated that 61.4 per cent of respondents were in favour of the plan.
Another poll on the Fix Auckland website records 95.1 percent of 2083 respondents also supporting the move.
EMA spokesperson Gilbert Peterson encourages people to contribute their views and ideas about the plan on it’s website.
“It’s all about the future Auckland and making it a proud place to live,” said Mr Peterson.
The current situation in Auckland city:
8 local authorities
7 mayors and 1 chairman
30 community boards
264 elected representatives
8 chief executives
5500 staff
8 separate rating bodies
8 plans and bylaws
7 building control authorities
12 water network operators
8 finance, IT and HR systems
8 transport agencies
Under the proposed OAC which would likely to happen in 2009:
One Auckland
1 mayor
21 community councils
127 elected reps
1 chief executive
less staff
1 rating body
1 plan, 1 set of bylaws
1 building control
1 water agency
3 - 5 finance, IT & HR
1 transport agency
Thank you for your succinct summary of what has indeed been a relatively covert campaign - it was hard to work out just who was behind a massive advertorial supplement in the NZH recently. It all sounds good and I’m not one to nostalgically favour the way things were in the past. But I’ve lived in a small community constantly battered by a dominating, larger local authority for 11 years now and I’m over it. Under a supercity, Waiheke doesn’t stand a chance. I hate the idea.