Mayor’s $6m shuffle saves South Auckland from service cuts

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has proposed a one-off funding workaround to stop local boards from having to cut services or hike rates.

But council staff warn the fix is just a sticking plaster on a deepening financial wound.

A funding gap of around $6 million has opened up under the council’s new “fairer funding” model.

While the plan was supposed to make things equal, some local boards including Māngere-Ōtāhuhu are finding that their costs are increasing faster than the money coming in.

To stop these boards from hitting rock bottom, a new memo from the Mayor suggests a temporary solution for the 2026/2027 year: asking boards with available funding flexibility to shift operating funding into capital funding.

It allows some local boards to move their "operating money" (day-to-day spending) into "capital funding" (long-term projects). This frees up cash that the council can then give to the seven boards facing the biggest shortfalls.

A proposed Auckland Council funding adjustment would allow some local boards to shift funding flexibility to help support boards facing budget pressure. Photo/Auckland Council.

For Māngere-Ōtāhuhu, the proposal could help ease immediate budget pressure but it will depend on the decisions of others.

Because the board does not have spare operating funding to convert, it would rely on other boards leaving money on the table.

“We don’t have additional operating expense to convert, in fact we are one of the seven boards that need operating expense,” Auckland Council Financial Adviser Manoj Rathod told the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board during its 29 April business meeting, where members discussed targeted rates and potential service cuts.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has proposed a temporary funding workaround to help local boards manage budget shortfalls in the 2026/2027 Annual Plan. Photo/PMN News/Taelegalolo'u Mary Afemata

He said the Mayor’s proposal relies on 14 other boards leaving up to $5 million on the table, which can then be “utilised for several local boards to mitigate the cost pressure.”

While the workaround might avoid immediate cuts to local programmes, the issue remained a major point of discussion during the meeting.

“This wasn’t our making. It was literally a governing body decision that now we have to kind of make a decision,” board member Te’o Harry Fatu Toleafoa said. “We don’t know what the governing body is going to land on.”

Advising the board during the meeting, Local Area Manager Victoria Villaraza said the underlying “problem” is getting “worse and worse every single year” because of the current allocation formula.

Swimming pools are among the local services that could be affected by ongoing funding pressures facing some Auckland local boards. Photo/Auckland Council.

“The conversations are going to be tough. There’s no easy answers here at the moment,” she said.

The mayor’s memo confirms the approach is a short-term solution: “This is a one-off adjustment and does not address the underlying funding gap.”

But for now, it means residents might get some relief.

Auckland Council Group Chief Financial Officer Ross Tucker said that for the 2026/2027 year, local budgets "can be managed without significant service cuts or increases to rates”.

While the council looks for a "fair, equitable and affordable" long-term fix, South Auckland boards remain on high alert.

Without a permanent change to the formula, the threat of service cuts or "targeted rates" will be right back on the table this time next year.

Final decisions on local board funding will be made by Auckland Council’s governing body as part of the Annual Plan process.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.