Auckland Council parking revenue through the roof
Auckland Mayoral Candidate Vic Crone says she’s uncomfortable with the level of surplus/profit from Auckland Council’s parking fees, and that any profit must be earmarked for transport.
“One of Auckland Transport’s key objectives for its parking is a fiscally responsible approach to providing, managing and pricing parking facilities,” says Ms Crone.
“The reality is, that over the ten year plan Council seeks to earn $800m in revenue from parking services across the city. It only costs about $360m to operate these parking services, leaving it with a tidy surplus of around $440m over ten years.*
“Part of that is then moved into a general Council fund. What you’ve got is a Council that refuses to fix its wasteful spending behaviour, instead finding other ways to feed the habit.
“This level of surplus would be considered a very comfy bonus in the private sector. It’s surprising to see Council as a public service provider scraping the barrel for huge profits. It’s just not on when many Aucklanders have no option but to travel by car.
“If elected Mayor, I’ll commit to a review of parking fees under Auckland Council’s parking strategy. We’ve got to get our public transport working better before we charge people through the roof for parking.
“Any surplus from parking revenue across the city will be put into an investment fund dedicated specifically to public transport infrastructure, not into a big leaky bucket. That way, Council can assure Aucklanders that any profit is fair and is being used for its intended purpose, not frittered away as part of Council bureaucracy.
“Council needs to spend less time working out how they can charge us more, and more time on how effectively they’re spending our money.”
Council’s parking services are an essential part of Auckland’s public transport and roading network. Auckland Transport’s parking strategy was updated to encourage more people to use public transport. It was recently announced that parking charges were set to triple for some parts of the city.
*Auckland Council 10-Year Plan, Volume 2, page 270.
