Auckland Council has delivered a record of more than $600 million in financial benefits for Auckland ratepayers over the last three years.
The $608 million is the largest of any council term and includes $418 million in savings, $96 million in recycled assets (such as sales of unused buildings) and $94 million in benefits from improved procurement.
Presented to August’s Revenue, Expenditure and Value Committee, the council’s savings have helped keep rates down. Without the savings, rates would have been around 7 per cent higher for the 2024/2025 year.
Mayor Wayne Brown says the savings delivered is a win for ratepayers.
“This is fantastic news and delivers on one of my commitments to stop wasting ratepayer money. I’ve been vocal about council taking a more robust approach to council investment on behalf of ratepayers, so this is a victory for Aucklanders,” says Mayor Brown.
“The Better Value Projects, for example, is an initiative I pushed for and has already saved $5 million since March. It’s a good start, but we know there’s more work to be done so we can continue to deliver better value for money for ratepayers.”
Committee chair Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson explains the purpose of savings targets is to reduce cost to ratepayers, and help keep rates increases and debt levels as low as possible.
“Investing ratepayers’ money wisely and effectively to benefit all Aucklanders is top of mind for the council, and these results demonstrate that. This is the biggest savings result to date and included exceeding the term’s target by $44 million,” says Deputy Mayor Simpson.
“Aucklanders expect us to maximise every dollar and over the last three years, we have carefully looked for new ways to save money to reduce the burden on ratepayers.
“It’s also rewarding that savings like these can benefit our communities. The multi-million-dollar savings the council has delivered enables continued investment in essential infrastructure, amenities and services to make Tāmaki Makaurau even better in the short to medium term, and for generations to come.”
The August meeting confirmed the $418 million savings were achieved through a combination of cost efficiencies, value-for-money initiatives and improvements to non-rates revenue.
Auckland Council group chief financial officer Ross Tucker says the organisation will continue its focus on this work.
“I’m pleased with this result and the continued culture of delivering value for money. The council continues to focus on implementing enduring savings initiatives to ensure ongoing financial sustainability in future years.”
Better Value Projects
The Better Value Projects programme was formally established in March 2025 as a response to a call for change in how the council group procures and effectively spends ratepayers’ money on projects.
Some early individual successes have been achieved over the last four months, specifically in procurement and process workstreams, including an overall saving of over $5 million across a number of projects.
Regular Value for Money reviews across council activities also contributed to annual savings.
Non-rates revenue growth
The council has made significant strides in growing non-rates revenue to reduce the reliance on rates to fund services and infrastructure.
Over the current council term, non-rates revenue has been maintained above 60 per cent of overall revenue, keeping rates below 40 per cent.
Notably, increased consent revenue, through improved systems and processes, has improved productivity and helped recover a greater proportion of associated costs.
The council also continues to tap into new opportunities such as leasing previously underused properties and a focus on lifting compliance and enforcement, which has delivered an incidental lift in revenue.
These are just two examples where revenue growth helped keep the average residential rates increases to 5.8 per cent.
Enhanced distribution from the Auckland Future Fund and improved dividends from the Port of Auckland further supports non-rates revenue to help keep rates lower.
Cumulative savings across financial years 2022/2023 to 2024/2025
|
Financial year (FY) |
TOTAL Cumulative savings target * |
Savings achieved |
$ Above target |
% Above target |
|
FY23 |
$90m |
$106m |
$16m |
18% |
|
FY24 |
$128m |
$138m |
$10m |
8% |
|
FY25 |
$156m |
$174m |
$18m |
12% |
|
Total (FY23-25) |
$374m |
$418m |
$44m |
12% |
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