1 October, 2026

Boards reject fairer funding: ball in council’s court

The proposed changes to local board “Fairer Funding” are up in the air after all 21 local boards across Auckland have rejected the suggested new model.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said in a letter last week to all the local board chairs, “[Council’s] view is that further staff effort redesigning the funding model would be pointless unless local boards are prepared to support changes and confront the trade-offs involved.”
He said the recommendations did not need to proceed if the “majority” of local boards opposed them. “Your collective position is clear.”
He noted increasing the overall local board funding envelope was “not a credible funding position”, and told chairs the council should not make unsustainable funding commitments with the upcoming rates cap proposed by central government.
“Retaining the current model has consequences. It means retaining its shortcomings as well as its benefits. It cannot mean retaining the model while also asking for a larger funding pool, a broader range of allocation factors, additional top-ups and a guarantee that no board will be worse off.”
He said council staff, instead of reviewing the proposal, should help local boards “manage within their funding envelopes”, so the boards could “improve value for money” and “identify realistic revenue opportunities”. Financial pressures on boards would continue.
“The answer is not another review. The answer is for local boards to make the decisions required to live within the funding they have.”
The council was voting on sections of the proposal as the Observer went to press on Tuesday.

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