That\u2019s value for money in action – keeping costs down for households, reducing reliance on rates, and building the trust to deliver ambitious projects for a city with global aspirations. It\u2019s not about doing less – it\u2019s about doing better, and proving the council can deliver without placing an ever-growing burden on residents. That\u2019s the commitment we\u2019ve made, and the work we\u2019re delivering.<\/p>\n
Last week I chaired the second Value for Money Committee meeting of 2026. In the second quarter alone, the council achieved $14.9m in savings – $5.1m from non-rates revenue and $9.8m from operational efficiencies – much through delivering services differently, more intelligently. Halfway through the financial year, we\u2019ve already reached 79% of our annual savings target, delivering $67.9m against the goal of $86m.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve approved new service reviews for 2025\/26. Legal Services is complete, the final report for Resource Consents has arrived, and terms of reference have been approved for Waste Services, Healthy Waters, Heritage Property, Sports and Recreation, and Arts and Culture. These reviews matter. Over the past five years, the programme has identified more than $60m in financial opportunities through clearer governance, standardised processes, and stronger contract management.<\/p>\n
These achievements set the tone for the broader work underway.<\/p>\n
Take the resource consenting system – one of the issues I hear about most. People say it\u2019s slow, confusing, unpredictable. They\u2019re right. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve backed an improvement programme to standardise processes, reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, and rebuild the capability that has slipped. The council heard the feedback and we\u2019re acting – the consenting process needs to be faster and more intuitive.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m often asked why the council invests in arts, culture, sport, and recreation when budgets are tight. The answer is simple. A global city like ours cannot thrive without a strong cultural heart and accessible recreation. These sectors aren\u2019t \u201cnice to haves\u201d. Culture, social interaction, and spaces for organised and informal play are essential for our health and wellbeing. In fact, I\u2019ve recently shared my ambition to see Auckland become the greatest cultural city in the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n
The council uses a simple rule to illustrate the impact of this work – every $30m saved avoids a 1% rise in general rates. Because of the savings achieved and wider revenue growth, we can hold the rates increase to 7.9% to provide us with an amount of revenue equal to only what is required to cover the CRL cost.<\/p>\n
– Desley Simpson<\/p>\n
Major events, cultural festivals, exhibitions, and sporting activity bring visitors into Auckland, support local businesses, fill hotels, restaurants, taxis, and create jobs. They reflect our diversity, who we are. A thriving cultural ecosystem doesn\u2019t just enrich our identity, it strengthens our economy and positions Auckland as a confident, creative city on the world stage.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the council is undertaking a review of these sectors, looking at governance, funding, infrastructure, and sustainability. Auckland is maturing, which means building a cultural ecosystem that is both vibrant and financially sustainable. These reviews aren\u2019t just about efficiencies \u2013 they\u2019re about protecting the identity that makes Auckland unlike any other city on Earth, and ensuring it continues to shine globally.<\/p>\n
Our commitment to access, inclusiveness, and financial discipline guided our decision to renew our digital lending contract for Auckland Libraries. Our city is home to a major digital lending service with more than six million digital checkouts last year alone. On a global scale, we sit at number 11 for e-lending, which puts us together with a small group of the very largest big city and regional library systems in the world \u2013 think Los Angeles, New York and Toronto. Aucklanders are reading in 36 languages, reflecting the city\u2019s diversity and growing demand for flexible, accessible content. With 90% customer satisfaction, renewing the contract was the most cost-effective way to keep up with demand for e-content.<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes, work continues to deliver real savings. Tools like the Ask Auckland AI assistant \u2013 launching soon \u2013 and streamlined consent lodgement are reducing costs and improving service. Modernising our back office strengthens our frontline services.<\/p>\n
Aucklanders want to know that their council is delivering for them \u2013 spending wisely, planning carefully, and keeping their city moving in the right direction. That\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m focused on. By staying disciplined about value for money, we\u2019re strengthening the services people rely on, and laying the foundations for a thriving, globally competitive Auckland, supporting the lives we want to lead.<\/p>\n
Auckland is competing with the rest of the world \u2013 and we are showing extraordinary potential to define what a truly global city from Aotearoa looks like. I\u2019m proud of the progress we\u2019re making and even more optimistic about what\u2019s ahead.<\/p>\n
Desley Simpson is the Deputy Mayor of Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That\u2019s value for money in action – keeping costs down for households, reducing reliance on rates, and building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[185806,57233,1975,51,22398,15250,8615,2516,2950,5205,5972,95661,185807,185808,3026,14768,19338,28162,27892,300,111,43,139,69,384,2170,17146,7676,6115,4514,4578,3271,16752,8220,1361,165,8229,5654,61,2477,165787,32561,4524,1316,102],"class_list":["post-350243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-106m","tag-57233","tag-at","tag-auckland","tag-aucklanders","tag-budgets","tag-come","tag-concern","tag-confidence","tag-council","tag-day","tag-delivering","tag-desley","tag-differ","tag-especially","tag-every","tag-expect","tag-hold","tag-household","tag-money","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-people","tag-plan","tag-questions","tag-rates","tag-real","tag-same","tag-savings","tag-should","tag-simpson","tag-targets","tag-that","tag-their","tag-they","tag-tight","tag-to","tag-topics","tag-underlying","tag-value","tag-want","tag-when","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}