Press Release
ISSUED BY AFFORDABLE AUCKLAND
Former Mayor Plays Pork Barrel Politics
Affordable Auckland Leader Stephen Berry has accused former North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams of playing pork-barrel
politics following comments today that North Shore is being “short-changed” by events following the North Shore’s
amalgamation into the Super City. Berry says, “This is a classic case of a politician trying to get more public money
for their region of interest without looking at the big picture.”
Berry is also a North Shore resident and would also like to see more events occur in the region but doesn’t believe
trying to attract more public money from an ever-dwindling Council coffer is the way to achieve this. “It is true that
events such the Devonport Wine and Food Festival have disappeared as they became commercially unviable. Pumping more
public money into an event that cannot pay its own bills should never be regarded as the correct solution. Surely if
there were genuinely sufficient demand for such an event, it would be commercially self-supporting and should find ways
to be so if it wishes to continue.”
“Auckland Council finances are now so dire that it is becoming difficult to balance the books and maintain the
must-haves without also splurging on nice to haves. At the end of this financial year, Council debt will reach $6.7
billion. If the Council continues borrowing at current levels ($1.2 billion this year), then total debt will exceed $10
billion by the end of this Council term. Current rates revenues match revenues from borrowing with 19% of rates revenue
being spent on servicing the interest on the debt. Fiscal restraint needs to begin today!”
Mr. Berry believes more self-sustaining and commercially viable events would happen organically, through community
voluntarism if the costs of complying with the myriad of Council rules were not so prohibitive. “During the last
election I spoke with an organiser of the Grey Lynn Festival who claimed much of the grant the Festival receives from
the Waitemata Local Board is spent complying with rules requiring waste management plans from the Council. The Festival
barely breaks even. Wouldn’t it be better if we stopped putting Council money down a bottomless pit that funds the costs
of endless bureaucratic rules?”
“I love living on the North Shore and think it would be great to see more events for the community. Let’s achieve that
through reduced council compliance costs rather than mortgaging our children’s futures.”
Ends