Auckland City Council Annual Report 2008/2009 Welcome We’re proud of Auckland. It’s a great city that ranks in the top five best places in the world to live. It’s easy to see why, with two amazing harbours, volcanic cones, the Hauraki Gulf and its 65 islands, as well as over 800 parks, beaches and open spaces. Auckland city has career, business and investment opportunities not found elsewhere in the country. It punches above its weight, producing almost 18 per cent of New Zealand’s GDP with only 10.3 per cent of the population. Our rich Maori and Pakeha history, along with our diverse mix of cultures make Auckland a vibrant, bustling city with neighbourhoods that have distinct identities and a sense of belonging. These pages tell how we provided services for our residents while protecting their future through sustainable practices. II Auckland City Council Annual Report 2008/2009 Our vision Auckland is the First City of the Pacific – the first choice for people to live, do business or visit. Our mission Working together to provide a great future by delivering valued service and leadership. Part 1: Performance highlights III About our city Auckland city is New Zealand’s largest, and most dynamic and cosmopolitan city. The Auckland region generates a third of New Zealand’s GDP, with half of that from Auckland city. Businesses in the city employ over 300,000 people – more than any other city Auckland Art Gallery redevelopment in New Zealand. Over 25 per cent of those work in the CBD, making it the biggest employment centre in the country. Auckland city’s population as at June 2008 was 438,100 (a net increase of 1.1 per cent from 2007). Our population is the most diverse in the country, with 187 ethnicities represented. The geographic area of Auckland city covers 632km2 including the Hauraki Gulf islands. Auckland tied 4th out of 215 cities around the world and was first in Asia-Pacific for its quality of life in Mercer’s 2009 Quality of Living survey. IV Auckland City Council Annual Report 2008/2009 Our organisation at a glance Auckland City Council governs Auckland city and is a local authority as defined by the Local Government Act 2002. It has a mayor, 19 councillors and more than 2350 full-time equivalent staff. What does Auckland City Council provide for the city? • We have almost $9.7 billion in assets, including • We clean the streets, eradicate graffiti land, infrastructure and buildings. vandalism, maintain grass verges, gardens, public toilets, bus shelters, rubbish bins and • Auckland Art Gallery holds a collection of over seats, and take care of street trees. 14,300 contemporary and historic works of art. • We own and operate marinas and boat ramps • We have 17 libraries and a mobile library with to give the public access to the waterfront, and approximately 1.7 million DVDs, magazines, provide marina and launching facilities from CDs and books in English, Maori, Mandarin and prime locations around the city. other languages available to the community. • We manage more than 2200ha of open space • We manage 72 road bridges, 2200km of with more than 800 parks, including 63 sports footpaths (further than the drive from Cape parks, playgrounds, beaches and reserves. Reinga to Bluff), 1420km of road networks, 1300km of stormwater pipes and 33,000 • To give Aucklanders travel choices, we provide street lights. an extensive cycleway network and have 32km of bus lanes. • We provide 30 community halls, community centres, nine swimming pools, 11 recreation • Auckland Zoo has over 700 animals of 119 centres, 17 buildings that are available for species in naturalistic enclosures. sports clubs to lease, a public golf course and Western Springs Stadium. Part 1: Performance highlights V About this report This document is the Auckland City Council Audit report Annual Report 2008/2009. It tracks our Audit New Zealand has approved our service-provision information (pages 18 to 119) and financial statements performance over the year from 1 July 2008 (pages 166 to 245) on behalf of the auditor-general. Turn to to 30 June 2009 and reports against the page 247 to see the full audit report. annual plan for that year. Context Auckland City Council’s Annual Plan 2008/2009 What’s inside In July 2008, we published our annual plan for achieving Part one: Performance highlights – this outlines the the initiatives we set out for the third year of Auckland City work the council has carried out during the past year. Council’s 10-year Plan 2006-2016. This annual report presents our progress against Part two: Our business in depth – this details the council’s that annual plan. four business areas: Arts, Community and Recreation; City Development; Civic Leadership; and Transport. It outlines what we achieved; how much it cost; key measures we used to gauge our progress over the past year; and where we are heading in the next 12 months. Part three: Who we are and what we do – this gives more information about the council, its structure and how it works. Part four: Keeping Auckland’s future bright – this reports on our efforts towards sustainability using the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Part five: Our financial performance – this explains how we fund our activities, and how rates and other income were spent in 2008/2009. Appendix – this contains our budget for 2009/2010, One council for Auckland information on targeted rates, a glossary and a Global At local elections in October 2010, the new Auckland Council Reporting Initiative index, and tells you where to will be elected, with new councillors and a single mayor find more information. for the Auckland region. The present eight local authorities (seven local councils including Auckland City Council, and Auckland Regional Council) will be dissolved. The new Auckland Council will be a unitary council, established on Our audience 1 November 2010, with all the responsibilities and powers Each year we produce the annual report for our key held by the current city, district and regional authorities. stakeholder groups. These groups include residential and business ratepayers, community groups, people who live in Auckland, regional partners, central government, potential overseas investors and international event bodies. Producing our annual report In keeping with our commitment to affordable progress and providing the best value for money for our ratepayers, this year we have put together the majority of our annual report in-house at a significantly lower cost than in previous years. The full council adopted this report at its meeting on 24 September 2009. VI Auckland City Council Annual Report 2008/2009 Contents Welcome II City Development 56 Part three: Our vision III Overview 57 Who we are and what we do 120 Our mission III What this work cost 59 How the council works 122 About our city IV City planning 60 Who’s who 123 Our organisation at a glance V Closed landfills management 62 The elected council 125 About this report VI Growth and development 63 Our organisation 130 Land and property-related The executive team 131 Part one: information 65 Our people 132 Performance highlights 2 Management of development 66 Managing our organisation 136 Message from the mayor 4 Public and environmental Monitoring council organisations 138 Message from the chief executive 5 health and safety 68 Part four: Our vision: First City of the Pacific 6 Stormwater management 70 Highlights and achievements 9 Utilities advocacy 72 Keeping Auckland’s Awards and recognition 10 Waste management 73 future bright 140 Financial overview 12 How we performed 75 An overview of sustainability 142 Civic Leadership 82 Global Reporting Initiative 144 Part two: Overview 83 Economic performance 146 Our business in depth 16 What this work cost 85 Environmental performance 148 How we measure performance 18 Asset and liability management 86 Social performance 158 Summary of expenditure 19 City marina operations 88 Cultural performance 160 Arts, Community and Recreation 20 City Parks Services 89 Part five: Overview 21 Development with Vision 90 Our financial performance 164 What this work cost 24 Leadership 91 Financial statements 166 Arts and culture 26 Property 93 Notes to the financial statements 173 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki 27 Public information 95 Listing Rule disclosures 246 Auckland Zoo 29 Representation 97 Audit report 247 Community development 31 How we performed 99 Emergency management 33 Transport 100 Appendix 250 Events 35 Overview 101 Targeted rates 252 Libraries 37 What this work cost 103 2009/2010 Budget 253 Museums 40 Auckland city parking 104 Glossary 256 Open space 41 Auckland-Manukau Eastern Global Reporting Initiative index 258 Parks 42 Transport Initiative 106 Where to find more information 262 Recreation 44 Parking services Auckland City Council’s Streetscapes 46 and enforcement 107 boundaries 263 The Edge® 48 Transport network management 109 Vector Arena 50 Transport policy and planning 112 How we performed 51 Transport services 114 Wharves management 115 How we performed 116 Auckland City Council Annual Report 2008/2009 1 2 Auckland City Council Annual Report 2008/2009 Part one: Performance highlights Over the past year the council has delivered the services and projects that residents expect, to secure the future that Aucklanders want. This section of the annual report presents our shared vision for Auckland, along with personal messages from the Mayor of Auckland city, Hon. John Banks and the chief executive, David Rankin. We also highlight key achievements from the third year of our 10-year plan and present a financial overview. Message from the mayor 4 Message from the chief executive 5 Our vision: First City of the Pacific 6 Highlights and achievements 9 Awards and recognition 10 Financial overview 12 Part one: Performance highlights 3 Message from the mayor While we are reducing our capital spend over the next 10 “Over the last year, we years from $5.3 billion to $3.5 billion, next year we will also have efficiently delivered invest our biggest ever amount on capital projects in a single projects and services year – $481 million.