- By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter funded by New Zealand on Air
The Auckland Council expects more properties to be bought out than anticipated and house removal costs are higher than budgeted.
At the council’s transport, resilience and infrastructure committee meeting last week, an update from the council’s Recovery Office revealed that category-three buyouts from the 2023 storms were likely to be higher than estimated.
In addition, the council’s house removal programme has had a higher than the expected $52,000 cost per site.
The council has so far removed 39 category-three homes, at an average cost of $84,000.
Group recovery manager + said 73 per cent of the properties had been categorised and there had been an upsurge in participation as the scheme closed.
“Were now at 3515 people who have opted in. That’s the final number and it has signalled that we potentially have more in the category-three space than we had forecast,” Ward said.
The council originally estimated approximately 900 category-three properties and Ward said the council currently had 890 properties in category three.
Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson asked how worried she should be around potential underestimates for buyouts and house removals.
“Do you think we have got enough elasticity in the budget because I’m not sure where you are going to get any more money from,” Simpson said.
Chief executive officer + said there is a potential cost pressure, but central government had already agreed to some flexibility with Crown funding.
“I’m signalling this, it may be that there is a cost press shift that we need to discuss through the annual plan process,” Wilson said.
Natural and built environment lead Craig Hobbs said house removals so far were higher than budgeted but were expected to come down.
“The costs to date have been higher than budgeted. We were budgeting $52,000 per site. We are currently around about the $84,000 mark,” Hobbs said.
He said the removals were at sites that were quite precarious locations such as Muriwai and Titirangi.
“[There are] a lot of considerations around health and safety.
“We have found asbestos in probably more properties than we anticipated as well, which has driven costs up, but we do anticipate those costs will drop down as we get into areas where it’s easier to remove houses,” Hobbs said.
