Auckland City Council

Last updated

Auckland City Council
Coat of arms of Auckland.svg
The coat of arms of the Auckland City Council
Auckland City logo.jpg
Type
Type
History
Founded1871
Disbanded1 November 2010
Succeeded by Auckland Council
Leadership
First Mayor
Last Mayor
Elections
Last election
2007
Footnotes
In 1989, amalgamated with:
Eden County
Ellerslie
Grey Lynn
Mount Albert
Mount Eden
Mount Roskill
Newmarket
Onehunga
One Tree Hill
Tamaki City
Waiheke County
The Council Administration Block, a 1950s Modernist building near Aotea Square and Queen Street Auckland City Council Main Building.jpg
The Council Administration Block, a 1950s Modernist building near Aotea Square and Queen Street

Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents (2006 census) of the city, which included some of the Hauraki Gulf islands, such as Waiheke Island and Great Barrier Island. It was chaired by the Mayor of Auckland City.

Contents

Elections

The councillors and the mayor of Auckland City were elected every three years. In the 2007 elections, the voter turnout was 39.4%,[ citation needed ] down from 48% in 2004 and 43% in 2001. [1]

Functions

Amongst its other functions, the city council administered more than 700 parks and reserves throughout the country (2008 data). [2] It also had, amongst other things, 2214 km of footpaths, though these were often in bad condition (30% being rated as "poor" or "very poor" quality), a matter often discussed in the media, especially after the 2008 elected council chose to reduce the annual upgrade budget by NZ$39 million to $218 million and reduced the budget for new footpaths from NZ$39.5 million to $5.7 million, as part of their campaign to reduce rates increases. [3]

Auckland City, as part of its landscaping programmes, had planted more than 103,000 trees since 2002, with about 16,000 new trees in 2008, a rate that was estimated at four times the trimming and removal rate of public and private trees. [4]

Finances

In the financial year ending June 2007, Auckland City Council had operating revenue of NZ$552 million, of which 68% came from Council rates, which were NZ$859 per ratepayer on average. It expended NZ$343 million on capital projects, of which 45% went to 'transport' expenses, 19% to 'property and asset management' and 17% to 'open spaces, parks and streetscapes', while 10% were spent on 'stormwater and waste management'. Another 7% were spent on 'arts and culture' and 2% on 'zoo, recreational facilities and community development'. The operating surplus was NZ$40.3 million. [5]

Controversies

In 2002 then mayor John Banks announced plans to sell 1570 of its 1700 pensioner flats. [6] A coalition called Council Housing Action Group (CHAG) fought the privatisation. Initially Banks sought to sell the flats on the private market, and the coalition protests included disrupting private auctions. [7] While the coalition was unable to prevent the sell-off, they achieved a substantial "compromise" where the flats were not sold off privately but instead sold to Housing New Zealand. All 1542 pensioner flats and 129 residential houses owned by Auckland City Council were sold to Housing NZ for $83million in 2002-3. The "book value" for all was $132million at the time of sale. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Territorial authorities of New Zealand</span> Second tier of local government

Territorial authorities are the second tier of local government in New Zealand, below regional councils. There are 67 territorial authorities: 13 city councils, 53 district councils and the Chatham Islands Council. District councils serve a combination of rural and urban communities, while city councils administer the larger urban areas. Five territorial authorities also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are unitary authorities. The Chatham Islands Council is a sui generis territorial authority that is similar to a unitary authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Lee-Vercoe</span> New Zealand politician

Sandra Rose Te Hakamatua Lee-Vercoe is a former New Zealand politician and diplomat. She served as deputy leader of the Alliance party and was later High Commissioner to Niue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Goff</span> New Zealand politician

Philip Bruce Goff is a New Zealand politician and diplomat. He currently serves as High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom since 2023. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 November 2008 and 13 December 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Banks (New Zealand politician)</span> New Zealand politician (born 1946)

John Archibald Banks is a New Zealand former politician. He was a member of Parliament for the National Party from 1981 to 1999, and for ACT New Zealand from 2011 to 2014. He was a Cabinet Minister from 1990 to 1996 and 2011 to 2013. He left Parliament after being convicted of filing a false electoral return – a verdict which was later overturned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auckland Harbour Bridge</span> Road bridge in Auckland, New Zealand

The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It joins St Marys Bay on the Auckland city side with Northcote on the North Shore side. It is part of State Highway 1 and the Auckland Northern Motorway. The bridge is operated by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA). It is the second-longest road bridge in New Zealand, and the longest in the North Island.

Botany Town Centre is a large shopping mall and lifestyle centre located in Auckland, New Zealand. It has more than 200 stores spread across three complexes, including restaurants and entertainment buildings such as cinemas. It is situated at the corner of Ti Rakau Drive and Chapel Road in the suburb of East Tāmaki, and was opened in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State housing in New Zealand</span>

State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, most of which are owned by the Crown. In excess of 31,000 former state houses exist, which are now privately owned after large-scale sell-offs during recent decades. Since 2014, state housing has been part of a wider social housing system, which also includes privately owned low-cost housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Busway, Auckland</span> Busway in Auckland, New Zealand

The Northern Busway is a segregated busway that runs along the eastern side of the Northern Motorway, part of State Highway 1, in the north of Auckland, New Zealand, linking the North Shore with the northern end of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. As of May 2022, the busway consists of two-way lanes running between Albany Station and Akoranga Station, and from Akoranga Station a southbound-only lane that joins the Harbour Bridge approaches just south of the Onewa Road on-ramp system. The busway previously ended at Constellation before an extension to Albany was constructed in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Connector, Auckland</span>

The Central Connector, is a bus route between Britomart Transport Centre in the Auckland CBD, New Zealand, and the commercial suburb of Newmarket. It has some aspects of a bus rapid transit link. It was expected to improve journey times by about 14 minutes for around 2,600 buses per week, about 65,000 passengers daily. Work began in April 2008 and is now finished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Wood (New Zealand politician)</span> New Zealand politician

George Sydney Wood is a former mayor of North Shore City and a former Auckland Councillor. He was the only North Shore City mayor to be elected for three terms and later represented North Shore ward on the Auckland Council between 2010 and 2016. He is now an elected member of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Len Brown</span> 1st mayor of Greater Auckland

Leonard Charles Brown is a former mayor of Auckland, New Zealand, and former head of the Auckland Council. He won the 2010 Auckland mayoral election on 9 October 2010 and was sworn in as Mayor of Auckland on 1 November 2010, being the first to hold that title for the amalgamated Auckland "Super City", and was re-elected in 2013. Brown had previously been elected mayor of Manukau City in October 2007, the second time he ran for that office. Brown is married to Shirley Anne "Shan" Inglis, and has three daughters. As Mayor of Auckland, Brown was a vocal advocate for the City Rail Link and helped pass the city's first Unitary Plan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Vision</span> Political party in New Zealand

City Vision is a centre-left coalition of two political parties, the New Zealand Labour Party and the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, and community independents who contest Auckland Council elections every three years. They have usually caucused in affiliation with Labour Party councillors and progressive independents.

The Fifth National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand for three parliamentary terms from 19 November 2008 to 26 October 2017. John Key served as National Leader and Prime Minister until December 2016, after which Bill English assumed the premiership until the National Government's defeat following the October 2017 government-forming negotiations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auckland Council</span> Governing body of New Zealands Auckland Region

Auckland Council is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to the Local Government Act 2009, which established the council. The governing body consists of a mayor and 20 councillors, elected from 13 wards. There are also 149 members of 21 local boards who make decisions on matters local to their communities. It is the largest council in Oceania, with a $3 billion annual budget, $29 billion of ratepayer equity, and 9,870 full-time staff as of 30 June 2016. The council began operating on 1 November 2010, combining the functions of the previous regional council and the region's seven city and district councils into one "super council" or "super city".

Sharon Stewart is a New Zealand politician who is an Auckland Councillor for the Howick ward.

The property bubble in New Zealand is a major national economic and social issue. Since the early 1990s, house prices in New Zealand have risen considerably faster than incomes, putting increasing pressure on public housing providers as fewer households have access to housing on the private market. The property bubble has produced significant impacts on inequality in New Zealand, which now has one of the highest homelessness rate in the OECD and a record-high waiting list for public housing. Government policies have attempted to address the crisis since 2013, but have produced limited impacts to reduce prices or increase the supply of affordable housing. However, prices started falling in 2022 in response to tightening of mortgage availability and supply increasing. Some areas saw drops as high as around 9% - albeit from very high prices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Berry (politician)</span> Politician from New Zealand

Stephen Berry is a perennial candidate in New Zealand national and local politics, running on right-wing positions.

3 Guys was a New Zealand, Irish and US supermarket chain that operated between 1973 and 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Brown (New Zealand politician)</span> Mayor of Auckland

Wayne Kelvin Forrest Brown is a New Zealand politician and the mayor of Auckland since the 2022 Auckland mayoral election. He has worked in leadership roles in several large New Zealand businesses and public infrastructure organisations. He was mayor of the Far North District Council from 2007 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tory Whanau</span> New Zealand politician

Tory Awatere Whanau is a New Zealand politician. She was elected mayor of Wellington at the 2022 election. Previously she served as the parliamentary chief of staff for the Green Party.

References

  1. The Battle for Auckland City The New Zealand Herald , Monday 24 September 2007, Page A5
  2. Auckland City Council Annual Report Summary 2007/2008 – Auckland City Council, 3 October 2008
  3. Pavement pinchers The Aucklander , 27 November 2008, Page 3
  4. 100,000 trees planted CityScene , Auckland City Council newsletter, 8 March 2009, Page 3
  5. Auckland City Council Annual Report Summary 2006/2007 – leaflet, Auckland City Council, 2007
  6. "Another chance for pensioner flats – National – NZ Herald News". The New Zealand Herald . 17 April 2002. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  7. "Housing sell-off faces protests – National News". Tvnz.co.nz. 18 May 2002. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  8. "Government and Auckland City agree on housing | Scoop News". Scoop.co.nz. 3 October 2002. Retrieved 27 February 2017.

Further reading