Howick ward councillor Maurice Williamson says he’s pleased the Howick Local Board has voted to axe funding for two community events in east Auckland.
Williamson campaigned during the 2022 Auckland Council elections on a message of cutting council spending and lowering its debt.
A majority of the local board’s members recently voted against providing $22,745 to its Movies in Parks event and $74,058 toward the Celebrating Cultures event at Barry Curtis Park in Flat Bush.
At a recent board business meeting, only chairperson Damian Light and member David Collings voted in favour of providing funding to the two events.
Light argued that Celebrating Cultures was the only event the board staged in Botany or Flat Bush and it would be a tragedy for it to not go ahead.
Other members of the board argued the events weren’t delivering value for money and cost too much.
On the Celebrating Cultures event, they said it didn’t draw a large enough crowd to justify the high cost.
Williamson says the board was “doing the right thing” by voting against funding for Movies in Parks.
“The council is desperately trying to rein-in spending and stop wasting money and running up debt.
“We’ve got $13 billion of debt on the books and that is just crippling. That’s about $33,000 per household of debt.
“So I was pleased to see [the board] voted against [it] and … Celebrating Cultures.”
- Disclosure: Howick Local Board deputy chairperson Bo Burns is the owner of the Times.
