Bernard Orsman: KitKats and pies keep the wheels turning at all-day budget council meeting

OPINION

As far as council meetings go, today’s all-day merry-go-round of bringing together 20 councillors and one mayor to agree on a budget at the Auckland Town Hall was a doozy.

Unlike Government budgets, drawn up in secret behind closed doors and announced after a morning tea of sausage rolls, Auckland Council’s budget has ground its way through six months of proposals, workshops, public consultation, governing body meetings and regular outbursts from its author, Mayor Wayne Brown.

It came down to “the latest, latest, latest proposal”, which then went through the wringer one more time with questions to the mayor, questions to officers and “just another couple of questions”.

Given the controversy Brown has unleashed with his first budget to “Fix Auckland”, the man was in a remarkably jolly mood and respectful of each and every councillor’s views.

He took the unusual step of adjourning the meeting and going into an informal “workshop” to give councillors five minutes each to say what kind of budget they would like before getting down to the nitty-gritty of official business.

Behind a wall of cameras and a surprisingly small turnout in the public gallery, one by one the 20 councillors laid out their positions, albeit with a few councillors keeping a poker face on where they stood on the Auckland Airport shares sale.

Having read the room, Brown broke off for lunch, waving a KitKat chocolate bar, to chew things over with his mandarins and to work on a compromise he hopes will achieve a consensus.

At 2.12pm, Brown tabled his latest plan - a considerable softening from his original “Black Budget” as councillor Shane Henderson called it - that involves a partial sale of airport shares, pushing household rates above inflation and renewing cuts to local boards.

“You can’t sell half the shares and not have a consequence,” the mayor said. “Everything has a consequence. A little haircut here and there is better than having your head cut off.”

Through all of this, the suits from the council’s finance team were peppered with questions, not always satisfying councillors with their jargon and answers.

Several left-leaning councillors feel they are being led down the garden path on the airport sale or, as councillor Mike Lee put it, the largest privatisation of council assets in Auckland’s history.

The biggest shock of the day, however, was the revelation by the Herald that councillor Wayne Walker, a bit of a rough diamond, stands to benefit from his late father’s $3 million-plus shares in Auckland Airport.

Councillor Maurice Williamson, who complained about the lack of eateries to buy a pie when the council scrapped free lunches at meetings, was overheard telling his colleagues: ”He will know where to go for food - the Ritz Carlton”.

The budget meeting broke up at 5pm without making any decisions. Part II resumes at 10am tomorrow.