So Option A or Option B?

 

As I noted in my Governing Body Agenda to Set LTP Consultation post the Governing Body of Auckland Council will on Thursday set in motion the consultation rounds for the draft Long Term Plan early next year. What caught my attention especially as the wider context ended up in the Herald today (Big projects on back burner) was a survey that Council will do on transport funding options.

From Auckland Council’s Governing Body Agenda:

Phase Two: Collecting Public Feedback

18. The LTP Summary document will be delivered to Auckland households by 23 January which is when public consultation period begins. Public consultation runs until 16 March 2015.
19. The Summary will include a feedback form and a local insert setting out the priorities for the relevant area. It will also encourage Aucklanders to go online to read the consultation document and other supporting information or to complete an online feedback form.  The Summary will also be available in the following languages online and in hard copy: Maori, Chinese, Samoan, Korean, Hindi and Tongan.
20. The table below summarises the different ways council will collect public feedback.  Written feedback will be collected from 23 January to 16 March 2015, while the feedback events will take place between 14 February and 14 March 2015.
21. Table Two sets out the four broad feedback channels for LTP consultation.  Feedback will be consistently collected and processed across all channels.

 

Table Two: Feedback channels for LTP consultation

Audience	Written feedback	In person		Digital engagement activities	Survey on transport options
		Have Your Say (HYS) events	Other community feedback events
General Public	All Aucklanders	25 events held across the region to capture verbal feedback on regional and local matters. Available to all Aucklanders.	Additional events with local communities on local issues (local board driven)	·  Available to all, but specifically aims to engage youth and online communities ·  A weekly blog ·  3 – 4 themed online forums	A survey of 5,000 Aucklanders will be undertaken on transport programme and funding  options
Businesses and key stakeholders		·      1 key stakeholder event ·      1 transport-focused event for key transport stakeholders
Maori		·    2 hui (west/central & south) ·    Interpreters will be available at any HYS event if required ·    Te Waka Angamua staff will attend all HYS events
Hard to reach audiences e.g. Youth/Seniors, People with disabilities, Ethnic & Pacific		·    4 events for hard to reach audiences	Local boards will target some of these groups through community networks
Co-governance / co-management		·    Event focussed on Maunga Authority operational plan

….

Survey on Transport options

37. A resolution by the governing body was made on the 27^th November 2014 to commission an independent statistically reliable quantitative survey to help inform choices about transport funding in relation to the LTP.
38. A quantitative survey of Auckland residents will be commissioned in early 2015 and will be completed by early April This survey will be based on a short 5 minute questionnaire that will be delivered to Aucklanders via telephone, online and by post. This hybrid approach will ensure the survey achieves maximum reach across the region which still being as cost efficient as possible.
39. Staff will work with the Chief Executive to finalise the survey questions and related matters prior to deployment of the survey in early 2015.
40. To ensure the survey sample is robust and statistically representative of the wider Auckland population, the sample size that is recommended for this survey is N=5000 Aucklanders randomly selected from across the region. At N =5000 the statistical margin of error on survey results at a regional level will be approximately +or – 1.4% at the 95% confidence interval.
41. An independent institution will be commissioned to conduct a comprehensive peer review of the technical end to end survey process in order to ensure alignment with best practice .

 

Reporting/deliverables will comprise of one report which will include analysis by key demographics and at local board level.  The report will also provide a comprehensive description of the method used, research limitations and margins of error on sample sizes. This will be available by 16th April 2015.

……

Source: http://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2014/12/GB_20141218_AGN_4577_AT_WEB.HTM

 

So what would take essentially 30 seconds to give the two options (and the rest of the 4:30 minutes to explain the context) the 5,000 will be asked the following thanks to the Mayor super imposing two false choices over us:

To fund the Auckland Plan Transport Network, Council needs to find other revenue sources to plug the $12 billion gap; otherwise we are limited to the Basic Transport Network which could compromise Auckland’s transport network by 2042 (end of the Auckland Plan). To help plug this $12 billion gap so YOU can get a world-class transport system for the World’s Most Liveable City which of the two funding options would you prefer:

1. An extra 0.9% rates rise ON TOP of any other rates increases, year on year for the next (X) years, plus a regional fuel tax that would add an extra 1.2% to the price of petrol for the next (X) years
2. A Motorway Toll of $(X) that you would be charged each time you use the Auckland Motorway Network

Now I have not put in the third option which should and might be in there if Council is true to itself over the survey:

• Do Nothing – that is none of the above two options

 

Note: That was not the actual survey from Auckland Council but what is most likely to be asked given the limited options the Mayor has given us for how we would like to fund our transport funding gap.

I am going to take a hunch that if the ‘Do Nothing’ option came up in the survey it would be the most picked answer by a virtual landslide. So it will be interesting to see if Council puts that third option in there.

 

I do also stress that if you do not take part in the survey you can still make your thoughts known about the funding options for our transport system via the other Long Term Plan feed back means. However, we get denied a referendum and Council is going to survey 5,000 instead. I can see the mass cynicism already especially as it will be alongside the standard consultation avenues.

 

I will podcast the Governing Body meeting both prior and post event. In the meantime though as someone quite rightfully said:

“because this looks like an epic train smash is coming with the way things are going. The roads will fall to bits and the new network won’t happen meaning PT grins to a halt which will cause everything to grind to a halt.”

Again I do wonder as well: Does Auckland Live in a Technocracy Rather Than A Democracy?