If you believe Auckland is being fixed, then I have a bridge to sell you.
There has been quite a bit of media coverage over the past few weeks about the unhappy state of affairs within Auckland Council – particularly the strained relations between Mayor Wayne Brown and those councillors, including myself, who opposed Brown's record 7.9% rates increase.
When the draft Annual Plan 2026/27 went out for public submissions late last February, in the very first sentence of his proposal, Wayne Brown declared: "When I ran for Mayor I said I would fix Auckland. This is what I am doing." But how does that statement equate with reality?
The 7.9% rates increase has sparked considerable anger among hard-pressed Aucklanders already grappling with the cost-of-living crisis. There has been fairly scathing criticism of Brown and his councillor supporters in the mainstream media and, particularly, on social media. Brown has responded with his own professionally produced social media campaign, doubling down, lecturing critics that he is right and they are wrong, and blaming everything on the City Rail Link (CRL). The Mayor and his inner circle have reacted to the public backlash – which seems to have surprised them – by directing their resentment towards dissenting councillors, whom they evidently feel have shown them up in the eyes of the public.
So, to determine whether Mayor Brown is fixing Auckland, let's look at the numbers.
First off, this is indeed a record rates increase, expected to generate approximately $322 million of additional rates revenue for the council. While 7.9% is the average increase for residential ratepayers, the council's total rates revenue is projected to increase by approximately 10.5%, reflecting growth in the rating base, new dwellings, revaluations, and changes to targeted and business rates.
This tends to undermine claims by Brown and his supporters that the rates increase is entirely due to the CRL. Brown has gone so far as to claim that it is "a zero rates increase plus the CRL". Yet even if one accepts the proposition that Aucklanders have not been long paying for the nearly $3 billion in council borrowing required to fund the project, the council's stated cost of CRL opex in 2026/27 is $235 million – not $322 million.
Rates increases above the rate of inflation have become a continuing pattern in Auckland. Since Wayne Brown came into office, rates increases have been 7.7% in 2023/24, 6.8% in 2024/25, 5.8% in 2025/26 and now 7.9% in 2026/27.
Under Brown, Auckland Council's annual rates take has increased from approximately $2.28 billion in 2022/23 to about $3.29 billion in 2026/27. Does "fixing Auckland" really mean extracting more than an additional $1 billion a year from Auckland ratepayers in just four years?
I have heard the Mayor claim that Auckland's rates are not the highest in the country, citing Wellington City as an example. Again, there is some sleight of hand here. Until now, most other local authorities in New Zealand have included household water and wastewater charges in their rates bills. (Wellington City is now in the process of separating these out.) On this basis when you include council-owned Watercare charges, Auckland does indeed have the highest rates, and Watercare has just announced its own 7.2% increase.
For the average household, rates have increased from $4,057 last year to $4,378 today. Water and wastewater charges have increased from $1,340 to $1,440. Together, that amounts to $5,818 per household. Of course, thousands of Aucklanders pay considerably more than that. Then there’s the increase in user charges.
Let's look at debt. When Wayne Brown came into office, collective council and Watercare debt stood at approximately $12.35 billion. Today it is approximately $17.08 billion. Debt has therefore been increasing by around $1.18 billion every year.
Last year, Watercare's debt was separated from the council's balance sheet. Regardless the growing collective debt and its interest burden will be borne by present-day Aucklanders and future generations.
Speaking of future generations, during his first term Mayor Brown persuaded a majority of councillors – some in breach of their election manifestos – to sell the council's legacy shareholding in Auckland International Airport, an inter-generational, blue-chip, income-earning asset belonging to Aucklanders – now gone.
So, in terms of "fixing Auckland", if you think increasing rates revenue by more than $1 billion a year and adding debt at a rate of around $1.18 billion every year amounts to fixing Auckland, then I have a bridge to sell you.
In fact, Wayne Brown has a bridge to sell you - at Point Chevalier – and he's not joking.
www.mikelee.co.nz
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