The Kaipatiki Local Board Today Asked The Governing Body For Their Share Of The Cake

The Kaipatiki Local Board today asked the Governing Body to address inequitable funding between all 21 local boards.

Kaipatiki Local Board Chairperson Lindsay Waugh says despite having 88,000 residents and ranking 6th in population, the local board receives the least amount of funding on a per capita basis.

“There needs to be a fair and equitable distribution of revenue to all 21 local boards,” she says.

To demonstrate her point, Ms Waugh presented a cake for the Governing Body to share amongst themselves during her submission on the budget.

“The cake which was received by the Mayor, was decorated to show the relative budgets of the 21 local Boards and the smallest piece was our portion, needed to sustain our community of 88,000 residents,” she says.

Ms Waugh says the cause of this inequity is years of under-investment in the Kaipatiki area by North Shore City Council. This inequity has now been reflected in the Auckland Council budget.

“We need this to be sorted so we can help make Auckland the world’s most liveable city. Without changes to the budget we are looking at having to adopt austerity measures,” she says.

The local board asked the Governing Body to:

1. Pass the budget and cover the deficit funding. This would result in the completion of long overdue legacy projects such as upgrades to its town centres, the cycling and walking track network, and playing fields.
2. Conduct an urgent review into the funding formula for local boards to ensure a more equitable arrangement over the next few years.

Ms Waugh says the last point is very important as entrenched inequity is too much for any community to bear long-term and puts our diverse, exciting and vibrant community at risk.

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Notes

Excluding Great Barrier, Waiheke and Waitemata, the draft Long-term Plan budget shows that Kaipatiki gets $79.17 per person less than the average net OPEX funding per person across the remaining 18 boards, a difference of $6,966,960.00 per year. The next most disadvantaged board receives $15.70 more per person than Kaipatiki or in other words an additional $1,381,000 per year. (ref Vol 4 Local Board Information and agreements page 11-12)

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