Another Taxpayers’ Union victory for transparency

6 APRIL 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wellington City Council’s commitment to proactively release sensitive spending figures is a win for transparency and the Taxpayers’ Union. The first round of figures, including a $98,000 banquet, were released in response to a Taxpayers’ Union information request.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says, “Wellington ratepayers have gained a significant victory as the Council has now committed to releasing sensitive expenditure every six months. This is the right response from the Council to the Taxpayers’ Union’s request, and we’ll be interested to see if other councils do the same.”

“The Taxpayers’ Union has requested entertainment spending from every council across the country. Most of the responses have come back and they make for very interesting reading. We will be releasing these expenses over the coming weeks, so watch this space.”

With regards to the banquet, Mr Williams says, “The Council clearly knew this spending was a bad look, because they tried to front foot it with a public statement. With $22,000 spent on ‘theming and menu design’ alone, it’s the type of largesse you only see from people spending other people’s money.”

ENDS

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