- Laura Kvigstad, Auckland council reporter
funded by New Zealand on Air
Auckland Council’s Annual Budget 2023/2024 consultation is expected to triple last year’s consultation numbers and has broken the previous record of online submissions.
Council’s 2023/2024 budget consultation closed with 28,850 online submissions, breaking the previous record of 21,000 from the Emergency Budget 2020/2021 during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Early figures do not include feedback outside of online submissions but the overall submissions are expected to almost triple last year’s Annual Budget 2022/2023 consultation, which received 11,500 submissions.
Chief financial officer Peter Gudsell said he is pleased with the results.
“There are some tough choices ahead and these are important decisions that will be made on behalf of Aucklanders, so it’s great to see we’ve heard from so many,” Gudsell said.
A week before submissions closed, council flagged that diversity of submitters was a concern.
New Zealand European’s made up a majority of submissions, representing 82 per cent of the total early submitters.
Gudsell noted Pasifika, Asian and Māori communities were under-represented in early submissions but were engaged.
“We have been out and about and online at Have Your Say events and our teams on the ground at Pasifika, Polyfest and Te Matatini say these communities are interested and engaged,” he said.
In early submissions, Māori accounted for seven per cent of responses, Pasifika six per cent and Asian 14 per cent.
Council is currently compiling data from hardcopy submissions after which there will be a clear picture of whether council was able to bridge the gap amongst submitters.
The Governing Body will consider the feedback from submissions in workshops throughout May and June.
