Hi all,
Auckland Council have set the budget for 2017-2018 and are now working on the Long Term Plan (LTP) for the next 3 years.
I checked the budget and there is only $3.4 million allocated to extension road sealing for all of Auckland (but mostly Rodney) for 2017/2018.
I have been saying this needs to be $10 million pa to make any sort of decent progress. The total Auckland Council transport budget is $1324 million pa so it is not a significant amount that would help Rodney seal the roads.
The major issue is that Auckland Council will not allocate enough road sealing budget. This is totally controlled by the Mayor (Phil Goff) and 20 Ward Councillors.
So again, I emailed the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and copied all Councillors and Local Board members.
The Deputy Mayor (Bill Cashmore) replied here are the highlights of Bill’s replies:
“Have a targeted rate to start the sealing program.”
“that under the Auckland Council / Auckland Transport priority system for transport expenditure rural road seal will never make the cut”
This attitude is really detrimental to Rodney and confirms our fear of the Super City. All about major projects and no concern for “local” as per what our rates should be about. I replied and gave them both barrels and more!
I suggest that at every opportunity we all keep complaining about the roads to Auckland Council / Auckland Transport. Our Rodney Board and Councillor Greg Sayers are working hard for our cause but need your support to bombard Auckland Council with our dissatisfaction.
If you would like to read the detail exchange with Bill Cashmore, email me ([email protected]) for a copy.
Glen