Auckland Council is seeking feedback on this year’s Annual Budget. Visit http://shapeauckland.co.nz/consultations/annual-budget-20162017/ to read the document and submit your feedback. Note: Feedback is open until March 24 at 4pm.
There are two main areas of consultation:
1. Rates
You can feed back on how you want your rates to be calculated and how much weight should be given to key issues such as:
- The Uniform Annual General Charge (i.e. whether this should be consistent across all households OR skewed towards areas where more money is spent)
- The Interim Transport Levy (an extra rates levy to pay for initiatives approved in the 10-year plan last year, including the Central Rail Link)
- Maori land rates
- Farm and lifestyle rates.
2. Spending in Orakei Local Board area
Meadowbank & St Johns is part of Orakei Local Board, and the Annual Budget determines where money will be spent in our area. You must submit in support of these projects to ensure they secure funding. Projects without support risk having their funding redirected to other areas of Auckland.
The main project affecting Meadowbank & St Johns is the cycling and walking connections to the Eastern Path (Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive shared walk/cycleway). Government funding does not cover connections to the path, so unless Orakei Local Board funds this, we could end up with a path through Meadowbank that is only accessible from St Johns Rd and the Meadowbank train station (which is not an improvement over existing routes).
Read more about the Eastern Path in our news article Eastern Path Updates September 2015.
A full list of local projects are below:
- cycling and walking connections to the Eastern Path (Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive shared walk/cycleway)
- Stonefields open space development
- develop the Shore Road eastern car park, third sportsfield and installing lighting
- contribute to the development of multi-use changing rooms at Michaels Avenue Reserve
- new lighting and sportsfield upgrades at Colin Maiden Park, Madills Farm and Orakei Domain.