Auckland Council says a six-year review of Council-owned property has saved $17 million a year and come at no cost to ratepayers.
The conclusion of the WorkSmart programme was reported at this week’s Revenue, Expenditure and Value Committee, where incoming chair Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson (pictured) recognised the value it has delivered ratepayers.
“When I first became a councillor, one of the things we looked at was whether all the buildings council had acquired through amalgamation were needed,” says Cr Simpson.
“So, it’s really pleasing to see this programme has delivered significant savings for ratepayers. It set out to save $1.7 million a year but came in at $17 million per year, which is incredible.
“What’s even better is we avoided building renewals of $184 million and delivered a $34 million cash surplus.”
WorkSmart began in 2018 to improve the efficiency of council-owned property and resulted in significant reductions, taking 19 sites down to six. It also improved the condition of council’s corporate buildings and delivered other improvements such as a new art storage for Auckland Art Gallery in Wiri, WiFi to libraries’ front-of-house areas and mana whenua spaces in regional office hubs.
With the WorkSmart programme completed, the corporate property optimisation continues through a council project team.
