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October 28, 2015
South Auckland communities hurt by funding shift
Waatea Team
Posted On October 28, 2015
A leading Maori Party figure is accusing Auckland Council of taking funding from some of the city’s poorest communities and redirecting it to wealthier areas.
George Ngatai, who is the party’s Tamaki Makaurau electorate co-chair, says the finance and performance committee rejected a proposed local board funding policy that factored in both population and deprivation.
That means six of the seven local boards which will lose money for locally-driven initiatives are in South Auckland, while Franklin, Rodney and Waitakere Ranges get more.
Mr Ngatai says that means Mayor Len Brown and South Auckland councillors Calum Penrose and Sir John Walker voted to cut funding for Manurewa and Papakura in order to send more funding to communities like Snells Beach and Omaha.
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