Māngere-Ōtāhuhu residents strongly support youth, environment and community programmes and think they should be retained, according to feedback on the Annual Budget they received from their Business Meeting last week.
The consultation drew more than 1300 responses from the community, which also highlighted concern around equitable funding model for high-deprivation areas like Māngere-Ōtāhuhu, with historic underfunding in infrastructure, which resulted in wider impact during the storm earlier this year.
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local board chair Tauanu'u Nick Bakulich is appreciative of the responses received from local communities.
“On behalf of the board I would like to acknowledge and thank our local communities and community organisations for their feedback,” he says.
“We are in a tough financial position, and balancing our budget requires a lot of difficult decisions, particularly for our community, who have experienced a wider impact from the recent weather events".
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local board Annual Budget 2023 hui
“Our communities are adapting to online trends, but it has been noted that at the same time, there are many who prefer paper copy feedback forms and consultation materials, which were made available in multi languages such as Samoan, Tongan and Te reo.”
A diverse range of engagement events were organised across the local area which included community hui, korero with mana whenua iwi, community led hui, youth engagement and many digital engagements through various networks.
This Annual Budget saw the highest number of engagements from Pacific communities locally with 60 per cent of the submitters indicating ethnic identity as Pacific and of these 524 were Samoans, followed by 136 Tongans. Other ethnicities included 420 European submitters, followed by 144 who identified as Asians and 142 as Māori. The local board also received 34 submissions from Community Groups organisations.
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local board Annual Budget 2023 hui
Tauanu’u Nick adds, “We were with our communities on the ground during the storm and will be advocating to governing body for equitable investment in our area to improve our infrastructure, storm water networks and facilities.”
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local board Annual Budget 2023 hui
There were 790 female submitters and 527 males, while eight selected other. The highest number of participations was from 25-34 age group, making 23 per cent of submitters, followed by 15-24 years at 16 per cent and 45-54 years at 15 per cent. It’s worth noting that the local board received 94 submissions from under 15-year-olds and 46 submissions from over 75-year-olds.
The board is now considering feedback, and the Mayor and Councillors Body will deliberate and make decisions on the Annual Budget 2023/2024 over the coming weeks, with the adoption of a final budget expected late June.
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