Auckland Council’s Annual Budget 2023/2024 consultation has closed with a total of 28,850 online submissions, breaking the previous record of 21,000 online submissions for the Emergency Budget 2020/2021 during COVID-19 lockdowns.
While this number is preliminary and doesn’t include feedback received through other channels, the overall submissions are expected to almost triple last year’s Annual Budget 2022/2023 consultation, which received 11,500 submissions.
The Emergency Budget is the council’s largest ever consultation, receiving almost 35,000 total submissions.
The Recovery Budget, the council’s most recent 10-Year Budget, received almost 20,000 submissions.
Auckland Council Group Chief Financial Officer, Peter Gudsell is pleased with the amount of feedback received.
“The large number of submissions shows that Aucklanders are engaged with this budget.
“There are some tough choices ahead and these are important decisions that will be made on behalf of Aucklanders, so it’s great to see we’ve heard from so many.
“Our team is now working hard to compile and analyse this submission feedback and present it to the council’s Governing Body, which will consider it, along with other updated information and research, ahead of the final budget adoption on 29 June.”
A report on the feedback received will be made available in late April. The Governing Body will then consider this feedback through a series of workshops during May and June, with the final Annual Budget 2023/2024 in place from 1 July 2023.
