Len Brown says ratepayers want him to get on with the job of being Auckland’s mayor

Auckland Mayor Len Brown told TVNZ’s Q+A programme that most Aucklanders want him to move on from last year’s affair scandal and get on with the job of being their mayor.

“Most people are over it and they want me to get on with the job and that’s what I'm doing.”

“I spend a lot of my time obviously within the community and the feedback in particular since New Year, has been Len get on with the job. So one, yes I am totally over that, and on with the job, and secondly the community wants to see our city continuing to flourish as it has been over the last six months.”

“I'm everywhere I need to be, I can't be at everything. I get 80 or 90 invites a week. I share those invites around our councillors, local board chairs. I'm out there, I'm in the face of the public of Auckland and I'm on the streets. They see me there they come up, they give me their view. Sometimes it's not positive.”

Mr Brown is calling for the government to look at new ways to fund local councils.

The current system only allows councils to use property taxes which Mr Brown said is unfair.

“It is clearly about fairness, and if you'd sat in the number of the meetings that I sat in with the elderly in our community in particular and try to answer their queries - look I'm getting older, my income is flat lined yet my property values are going up, it's really difficult for me to afford rates. And so it's a genuine attempt for us in local government, not just Auckland but local government to really fix that issue of fairness and also simplicity. I challenge you to get anyone to simply explain rates.”

See the full Q+A interview on the website: http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/ta-tvnz-index-group-2556429

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