Should you read Auckland Council's pre-election report?

Wednesday, 31 July 2019

Auckland's pre-election report highlights future change.

OPINION: A three-yearly treat is being offered to avid Auckland Council spotters with the release of its 'pre-election report'.

This is the real oil, a handy insight into the true state of the council to counter the mis-information that's often part of political campaigning.

Here's a review of it, if you're unsure whether it's your thing.

Auckland Council warns the pressure of growth poses challenges for the next term

Auckland Council has for 2019 put a lot of creative effort into the report, compared with the simple presentations of past two elections.

**READ MORE:

A graph from Auckland Council's 2019 pre-election report showing the city's diversity.

* Wellington bus boss: 'I take responsibility'

* Households earning up to $100,000 a year but still struggling to make ends meet

* Forty per cent in Auckland's poorer suburbs can't afford basics, study finds

* Southside Rising: the Otara story**

The online version has headline script that slides into place and is laden with high-quality photography.

The council has condensed the storyline, from a wordy 33 pages in 2016 to just 27, with a lot of space taken up by images and graphics.

The key plot is revealed on the first page by the chief executive Stephen Town.

'Our newly-elected mayor, councillors and local board members will have to make some tough decisions about the prioritisation of our funding and resources.'

After layering the challenges of catering for growth, transport funding, climate change measures, community facilities, the theme of funding returns on page 19.

'We could look at further asset sales, increasing service fees or public transport fares and rates.'

This sets up an intriguing tension for Season 4 of Auckland Council, starting in November, where the political drive is currently to make public transport cheaper, and the proposed rise in general rates goes up only slightly to 3.5 per cent.

There are no surprises in the pages of financial data. The scriptwriters have paved the way previously with almost quarterly reporting in investor statements, annual and interim reports.

A twist is the omission, this time, of the political favourite: staffing levels.

In short, when bundled into full-time equivalents – for example, two half-timers equal one FTE – the council and its agencies employ 9619, which is 189 more than the eight councils which in 2010 were merged to form Auckland Council. That was last year's tally.

The council told Stuff the report is complementary to its other publications and the latest figure will be revealed in the annual report in September.

The tighter scripting and more visuals it put down to the report having been designed 'with a wide audience in mind, with the intention of appealing to both voters and potential candidates'.

Despite the absence of new plot developments, the story of Auckland and its council is always a fascinating one. It's a rapidly growing and increasingly diverse metropolis trying to make its mark in the world, while trying to improve the lives of those who call it home.

A pre-election report has been required under legislation from all local bodies since the 2013 elections.

The minimum requirements are the state of the finances, projections for the next three-year term of the council, and the major projects planned.

Beyond that, councils can tell their stories as they wish – but without an image of any politician.

Wellington City is a minnow by comparison with a population only an eighth the size of Auckland's, at 213,847.

Its residents get 44 pages of fairly detailed information, snappy graphics, and a page of self-congratulatory comparison with four other cities.

Wellington City came out on top with the lowest unemployment rate at 4.2 per cent (pipping Auckland and Tauranga), second highest quality of life rating (behind Tauranga, Auckland was fifth), and highest household income – unsurprising in a city of public servants and urban professionals.

Wellingtonians, still un-amalgamated, get another 30 pages from their regional council, the local body which implemented the disastrous roll-out of a revamped bus network last year.

'A priority for Greater Wellington will be ensuring the Wellington City bus network is operating to the level that customers can expect from a world-class public transport system,' the council wrote reassuringly in its pre-election report.

If you find the local body election campaign at times too gloomy, or impenetrable, the pre-election report is a worthwhile diversion into a snapshot of the real world of Auckland.