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Have your say on Emergency Budget in Auckland

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff

Auckland, April 29, 2020

New Zealand’s success in achieving one of the lowest levels of COVID-19 transmission in the world means that on Tuesday. April 28, 2020, we were able to move down to Alert Level 3.

This eases restrictions, allowing more than 130,000 Aucklanders to resume work.

We will be able to travel slightly farther within our region to beaches and parks, and restaurants will be able to reopen with non-contact takeaway services.

We can increase our bubble slightly to include close family members of one other bubble.

Restraint needed

We can celebrate the progress New Zealand and our City have made in limiting the number of new cases and deaths. However, we still need to remain vigilant and observe safety rules to stop a re-emergence of the virus, which some other countries have suffered from.

My thanks to all the Aucklanders who worked so hard during the Level 4 lockdown.

By following the rules around staying home and maintaining physical distancing, you have helped us break the chain of COVID-19 transmission and have undoubtedly saved lives.

This collective effort has helped us to avoid a catastrophic situation which could potentially have cost thousands of lives, as we have seen in other countries around the world.

So please keep up the good work: stay home, work from home if you can, travel only for essential employment or to access essential services, and maintain physical distance of at least two metres from anyone who is not in your bubble.

The success of New Zealand depends on the success of Auckland

Following good hygiene

Be sure to continue regular handwashing, and if you are sick, stay at home and quickly seek advice from your GP or Healthline about getting a test. 

Working together in this way will give us the best chance of ensuring that we can move quickly to Level 2 and that we do not have to return to Level 4 lockdown.

As we enter Alert Level 3, you will notice more activity across the city.

Auckland Council and its agencies worked hard during the lockdown to ensure that construction work could restart as soon as the country moved to Level 3, and from Tuesday construction has resumed, with safeguards in place to protect employees and the public.

The resumption of construction activity is important, not only for the thousands of workers who will be back on the job, but also for our wider economy.

Impact on businesses

It will progress much-needed Auckland infrastructure and generate jobs and growth to assist the economic recovery as we move out of the COVID-19 crisis.

As we have already seen, the international recession caused by COVID-19 and the lockdown will have a serious impact on jobs and businesses, and unemployment will grow.

Auckland Council’s major construction projects—including the City Rail Link, the Downtown programme and the development of Wynyard Quarter—will play an important role in helping to boost jobs growth and stimulate the economy, as will the ‘shovel ready’ projects we have put forward to the government for funding through the national stimulus package.

COVID-19 has also had a huge impact on council revenue, with a loss of between $350 million and $450 million a year, depending on the length of the disruption. While the drop has come from non-rates revenue, it is the equivalent of a rates revenue loss of 15% to 30%.

Reducing costs

At Auckland Council, we are looking to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and save money wherever possible. Chief executives of the council and its agencies, as well as myself and other councillors, have taken a 20% salary reduction for the next six months.

Board chairs, directors and senior executives across the council group have also had their salaries reduced during the crisis.

We will consult this year on a lower than planned rates increase of 2.5%, as well as the previously flagged 3.5% rise. This will allow us to continue to deliver the services that Aucklanders need and enjoy, such as rubbish and recycling collections, water supply and libraries and leisure centres.

We will also ensure that anyone who is unable to pay their rates because of financial hardship can defer or postpone payment, and we are committed to being flexible and reducing the pressure for ratepayers and businesses wherever we can.

Consultation on the Emergency Budget will start next month, and I encourage you to have your say. Visit ourauckland.nz for more information.

 

Phil Goff is Mayor of Auckland. He writes a regular weekly Column in Indian Newslink.

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